The Club of French Entrepreneurs in Pondicherry (CEFP), handed over ₹2.50 lakh worth of Covid containment resources to the Health Department at a function in the Raj Nivas on Tuesday.
French Consul General Lise Talbot Barre handed over the aid to T. Arun, Health Secretary as Telangana Governor and Lt. Governor for Puducherry Tamilisai Soundarajan joined in virtually from the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad.
The aid was mobilised by the 5,000-strong French community in Puducherry in response to the call by French President Emmanuel Macron to deploy a massive solidarity mission to support India, with the goal of not only providing immediate medical relief but also boosting India’s strategic autonomy in healthcare, the French Consulate said.
"We stand by India in these difficult times, just as India has always stood by France. In spring 2020, when French hospitals were facing acute shortages, India provided lifesaving help through the export of critical medical drugs. The French people have not forgotten. India has, in fact, been at the forefront of international cooperation against the pandemic, including through sharing its massive vaccine production capacity with the countries most in need", Ms. Barre said.
CEFP vice president Anita De Canaga and Gunasekar, treasurer, said that with these donations, the CEFP has purchased equipment for the Covid-19 frontline carers in the hospitals.
The donation included 500 personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, 500 non-rebreather (NRB) mask, 23 non-invasive ventilation (NIV) masks.
IDA chips in
The Indian Dental Association (IDA), Puducherry branch, with the support of its members, contributed various materials to the Covid centre at Mahatma Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Gorimedu.
The personal protection kits consisting of masks, PPEs, hand sanitisers, face shields, protective eye wear and biomedical waste bags were handed over to the Dean Kennedy Babu in the presence of M.Narayanasamy, in charge of COVID Care Hospital, IDA president R.Kavitha and other members S.V.Srinivasan, V.Arun Prasad Rao and C.Ravishankar.
