Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE NEW IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • COVID-19
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Digital Health
  • Insights
    • ACA 10 Years After
    • Best Practices
    • Special Reports
    • Innovations
  • Data/Lists
    • Rankings/Lists
    • Interactive Databases
    • Data Points
  • Op-Ed
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Awards
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
    • Women in Healthcare
    • - Luminaries
    • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
    • - Leaders to Watch
    • - Luminaries
    • - Top 25 Women Leaders
    • - Women to Watch
  • Events
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Transformation Summit
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Strategic Marketing
    • - Virtual Health
  • Listen
    • Podcast - Next Up
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • MORE +
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Hospital Systems
May 13, 2021 04:41 PM

Hospitals send COVID-19 relief to hard-hit India

Steven Ross Johnson
Alex Kacik
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Modern Healthcare Illustration / Getty Images

    Several U.S. hospitals have stepped up to provide India's frontl-ine healthcare personnel with much-needed protective equipment during the current COVID-19 outbreak.

    Last week, suburban Chicago-based Edward-Elmhurst Health partnered with local social support organization India Hub to donate five pallets of personal protective equipment, including 3,500 isolation gowns, 6,000 N95 masks and 72,000 exam gloves to emergency relief groups in India like the Red Cross.

    "We wanted to make a donation that can help individuals on the ground right now," said Colin Dalough, manager of community and government relations at Edward-Elmhurst. "Whatever we can do in whatever limited capacity that we have from afar nevertheless we'll want to try and help those individuals from a humanitarian standpoint."

    Some of the U.S.'s largest healthcare providers have similar relief efforts underway.

    Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health on Wednesday said it plans to donate more than 630,000 pieces of surplus PPE to the relief effort, including masks, gowns, goggles, coveralls and face shields. The health system will work with airline  Air India and relief organization Rotary International to deliver and distribute the equipment.

    Dan DeLay, CommonSpirit's senior vice president of supplies and services resource management, said it would likely take another 10 days before the full shipment reaches India since Air India is prioritizing delivery of oxygen tanks and generators.

    India has approximately 100 production plants that produce PPE, but the outbreak has affected many workers and slowed down production, DeLay said.

    "You have a situation where they do need donations going forward until the situation stabilizes," DeLay said.

    Last week, Oakland, Calif.-based, Kaiser Permanente pledged more than $5 million in PPE and medical supplies to the relief effort, including swabs and tubes for COVID-19 testing and oxygen generators.

    Kaiser recently established a website for their employees to make personal cash donations the health system plans to match up to a total of $100,000 to go to organizations supporting India and other countries experiencing surges in COVID-19 cases.

    "While there are counties here at home and countries around the world that continue to be hit hard by the pandemic, the situation in India outstrips anything we have seen," Kaiser Chairman and CEO Greg Adams said in a statement on Tuesday. "We felt compelled to join with other national and international organizations and foundations to help."

    New York-based Northwell Health has committed to providing 1 million KN95 respirators, 35 ventilators and 1,000 oxygen concentrators to the hardest-hit areas of India. An initial shipment of donated masks and PPE was sent May 4, with the rest  arriving in India by the end of last week.

    Northwell also established a fund to support the health system's Center for Global Health where all financial donations received in May will be directed to the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, which is helping to coordinate Northwell's relief effort.

    Over the past two weeks, India has broken records for highest single-day COVID-19 case totals, with more than 362,000 confirmed on Thursday by the World Health Organization. Since Jan. 3, 2020, more than 23 million confirmed cases have been reported in India with more 258,000 deaths.

    About two-thirds of Indians live in rural areas, where the healthcare infrastructure is much less robust, said Louise Ivers, executive director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health.

    "There is capacity in the Indian healthcare system, but it is not dispersed around the country to all the places that need it," she said on a webinar Thursday coordinated by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "There is a massive crisis of need at the moment. Not only are they unable to get the care they need for COVID, but presumably other healthcare is getting crowded out of the system."

    Beyond donations, Ivers said a more global approach to coordinating a response to disease threats will be needed going forward.

    "This should be a wakeup call for every community that doesn't have high coverage of vaccination," said Ivers, noting that the Africa CDC director recently called on his fellow leaders to not be hasty in relaxing restrictions. "I am very concerned for other countries; we see in Nepal how this is causing exponential growth. We have to stay on alert."

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    HenryFord-main_i.jpg
    Henry Ford Health streamlining operations with urgent care expansion
    Copy of Mass general Institutional-Image_i.jpg
    Mass General Brigham gets green light for slimmer expansion
    Sponsored Content
    Modern Healthcare A.M. Newsletter: Sign up to receive a comprehensive weekday morning newsletter designed for busy healthcare executives who need the latest and most important healthcare news and analysis.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • COVID-19
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Digital Health
    • Insights
      • ACA 10 Years After
      • Best Practices
      • Special Reports
      • Innovations
    • Data/Lists
      • Rankings/Lists
      • Interactive Databases
      • Data Points
    • Op-Ed
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Awards
      • Nominate/Eligibility
      • 100 Most Influential People
      • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
      • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
      • Excellence in Governance
      • Health Care Hall of Fame
      • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
      • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
      • Top 25 Innovators
      • Diversity in Healthcare
        • - Luminaries
        • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
        • - Leaders to Watch
      • Women in Healthcare
        • - Luminaries
        • - Top 25 Women Leaders
        • - Women to Watch
    • Events
      • Conferences
        • Transformation Summit
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Leadership Symposium
      • Galas
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Strategic Marketing
        • - Virtual Health
      • Webinars
      • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Listen
      • Podcast - Next Up
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • MORE +
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing