London, UK. Mars, Inc. – the global food, petcare and confectionery company – has joined with international development company, Crown Agents and business-led collaboration network, Business Fights Poverty, to supply oxygen concentrators to hospitals in India in response to the region’s Covid-19 crisis.
Oxygen concentrators can produce oxygen for 24-hours a day and have a lifespan of at least five years. Mars’ donation of the concentrators alone could provide over 14.6 million hours of oxygen until 2026 during their operational life. Three Indian hospitals in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka states have already received their first batch of oxygen concentrators.
“We are humbled at the opportunity of being able to support the community with critical medical aid as part of our ongoing and sustainable support to address the needs of the communities where our associates and supply chain communities live and work. We’re grateful that through our partnership with Crown Agents and Business Fights Poverty, we can galvanise the much-needed response,” says Kalpesh R. Parmar, General Manager of Mars Wrigley India
Mars partnered with the ‘India Covid-19 Response Facility’, to direct donations of life-saving medical equipment to many locations across India where the company’s associates and supply chain communities live and work. The multinational quickly joined the response and within 24 hours, donated 334 oxygen concentrators.
The Facility provides private sector organisations across the globe the opportunity to help India tackle the Covid-19 crisis. It has already seen other large private sector companies respond.
The joint initiative, managed by international development company, Crown Agents and Business Fights Poverty, leverages Business Fights Poverty’s network with multinational companies and Crown Agents’ last-mile logistics capabilities to ensure support reaches even the most remote and rural areas where it is needed.
“We’ve been responding to Covid-19 across the globe since the outbreak of the pandemic, transporting vital medical equipment to the most vulnerable in all corners of the globe. We’re witnessing first-hand the impact the private sector can have on speeding up emergency responses, providing needed expertise and bridging funding gaps” says Crown Agents CEO, Fergus Drake.
“We need other companies to join our Covid-19 Response Facility as quickly as possible. Mars is pooling and targeting its resources to combat the crisis in India. We now want to extend our activity to alleviate the crisis across the region. Join the facility by visiting our website at businessfightspoverty.org,” says Zahid Torres-Rahman co-founder of Business Fights Poverty.
According to WHO there are 30.3 million confirmed Covid-19 cases in India as of 30 June 2021, and 397,637 deaths.
(Photo- Madhav Mahajan, M’Studios)
