Staff at Cork's University Hospital have launched an appeal for donations of any available respiratory equipment from hospitals, medical suppliers and healthcare organisations that can be sent to assist Covid-19 medical efforts in India.
Professor Seamus O'Reilly, a consultant medical oncologist at CUH, told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that staff are anxious to express their solidarity with their Indian colleagues, saying healthcare services in Ireland would have collapsed in January without their assistance and work.
He said CUH also has a historic link with India since the 1985 Air India disaster and this also underlines the efforts to appeal for respiratory supplies to send to India.
The efforts will be co-ordinated by the Health Service Executive and any public or private hospital or healthcare company with equipment to donate can contact them directly.
Prof O'Reilly said that "good can come from difficult things" and he also asked people to donate to the Unicef vaccination programme on the Unicef website.
Earlier this week the Government announced it is sending 700 oxygen concentrators to India as part of an emergency donation.
The @volgadneprgroup Ilyushin IL-76TD-90VD departing this morning for @DelhiAirport with a cargo of vital oxygen, PPE & other medical supplies from the Irish state to India. We're proud to help facilitate this humanitarian cargo service.🇮🇳 🇮🇪 #IndiaFightsBack #AvGeek pic.twitter.com/YmkURPTQMf
— Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) April 28, 2021
The number of recorded deaths in India from Covid-19 has now passed 200,000. However, it is believed to be much higher.
