Diageo pledges ₹45 crore towards India’s COVID relief efforts

Liquor manufacturer Diageo has pledged ₹45 crore to support India’s Covid-19 public health infrastructure during the second surge of the pandemic.

Through this initiative, Diageo will help nodal government hospitals in 21 districts to set up Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants to create long-term oxygen capacity. Diageo will provide state governments fully-equipped, prefabricated 16-bed mini-hospital units with PSA oxygen plants in the 15 most critical districts. This will help increase the hospital bed capacity in the district with the flexibility to upgrade to ICUs or Critical Care as well as relocate to districts of greatest need. In addition, the company will donate medical equipment including oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders, ventilator beds and other critical devices to public hospitals across 10 States, a press statement from the company said on Monday.

Also read: Nestle India to set up five oxygen plants as part of Covid-relief efforts

“Long-term medical infrastructure, especially hospital beds and self-sufficiency in oxygen is what is needed most and we hope our contribution going into every State and UT will help play a part in India’s recovery. With this pledge, Diageo has so far contributed ₹130 crore towards Covid relief,” Anand Kripalu, Managing Director and CEO, Diageo India, said.

Given the scale of devastation, Diageo has adopted the ‘One District, One State’ approach, with the aim of ensuring that support reaches at least one district in each state and Union Territory of the country. Diageo’s initiative will be supported by the national investment promotion agency, Invest India and executed by GiveIndia by prioritising the requirements of the state authorities, identifying critical districts, and ensuring smooth transition to state medical officials. The Hindu BusinessLine