“It is our turn to step up and help India in its moment of crisis,” says Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Considered the “epicenter” of Covid-19 just a year ago, New York City is stepping up to help India in its moment of crisis as it battles a second deadly wave of the pandemic.
The City will tap into its stockpile to send Covid-19 test kits, swabs, ventilators, BiPap machines, pulse oximeters, and other medical supplies to India, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday.
“Just over a year ago, New York City was the center of the global pandemic,” said de Blasio. “Now it is our turn to step up and help India in its moment of crisis. We are sending vital medical equipment to India to send a clear message: nobody is in the fight against Covid-19 alone. Together, we can save lives and beat back the pandemic.”
“Our city, home to thousands of Indian-born New Yorkers, and our country have a moral imperative to demonstrate global solidarity in order to overcome this devastating pandemic,” said Indian American Health Commissioner Dave. A Chokshi.
“We applaud the Biden administration’s support for Covid-19 vaccine patent waivers and call on the White House to take further action. India needs the lifesaving Covid-19 vaccines as soon as possible. We should publicly share all research, technology, and techniques for producing the Covid-19 vaccines.”
“As a proud Indian immigrant with generations of family currently living in India, it breaks my heart to see the ongoing Covid-19 tragedy unfold. The Mayor is a leading citizen of the world, and on behalf of the Indian community, I offer my deepest gratitude for his decision to commit life-saving resources to India,” said Kapil Longani, Counsel to the Mayor.
“This pandemic highlighted our interconnectedness as a global community, and it’s imperative that we stand together in solidarity to defeat this virus.”
“As the first Indian American woman elected to state office in New York, I stand in solidarity with the people of India at their time of need,” said Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar.
READ: US lawmakers urge Biden to increase Covid-19 assistance to India (April 30, 2021)
“The largest Indian American population in the Western Hemisphere is here in New York City.
It was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, ‘Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly,’ and that has never been more true than during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“If there is a Covid crisis in India, then New Yorkers are in crisis,” Rajkumar said applauding de Blasio and Chokshi “for recognizing that we are all in this pandemic together and for sending supplies to the people of India so they can fight this deadly virus.”
“We greatly appreciate the generous gift by New York City to the Government of India,” said Randhir Jaiswal, Consul General of India, according to a statement issued by the Mayor’s office.
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“The ventilators, bipaps and testing kits which have been donated by New York will be immensely useful in fighting the pandemic in India. The supplies being sent will further add to the robust assistance provided by the US government to India. The empathy shown by this great City is admirable.”
“We are pleased to see New York City providing humanitarian assistance to our global neighbors in India to fight Covid-19” said Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition.
“India, overwhelmed by the pandemic, is in desperate need of vaccines,” said Patricia Raghunandan, Queens Community Lions Club.
“New York’s thousands of Indian-Americans are filled with anger and helplessness as they witness the unnecessary tragedy back in the country that shaped each of us as a child,” said Harpreet Singh Toor, Co-Founder & President of South Asians for Global Empowerment.
READ: $100 million worth US Covid relief aid starts arriving in India (April 29, 2021)
“Especially when our own situation has become so full of hope, it is the right time to join Mayor Bill de Blasio in calling for a full-scale effort to donate vaccines, Covid-19 test kits, swabs, ventilators, pulse oximeters, and every other type of relief possible to India.”
“Children’s Hope India, a New York-based organization which supports underserved communities in many Indian cities, has reached out with donations, oxygen concentrators and other equipment and with its partners on the ground has created makeshift hospitals, triage stations and vaccination camps,” says Dr. Dina Pahlajani, President of Children’s Hope India.
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