Indian-origin billionaire businessman Khosla pledges USD 10 mn for oxygen supply in India

Indian-origin billionaire businessman Vinod Khosla has pledged USD 10 million for supplying medical oxygen to hospitals in India amidst an unprecedented second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Taking to Twitter, the 66-year-old venture capitalist said that there was a need to save lives as further delay may end up in more deaths.

“For @GiveIndia this isn’t enough. They’ve received requests for 20,000 oxygen concentrators, 15,000 cylinders, 500 ICU beds, 100 ventilators, 10,000-beds COVID centres with requests coming from non-profits & hospitals all across India every day. We need to do a lot more urgently, Khosla said on Sunday. This is in continuation with the Sun Microsystems co-founder’s efforts to fund hospitals for oxygen supplies. “The Khosla Family is adding USD 10 million to @GiveIndia to its previous commitment as a match and hoping others will join in this urgent need,” Khosla said.

The Khosla Family is adding $10m to @GiveIndia to it’s previous commitment as a match and hoping others will join in this urgent need. There is large and very urgent needs & a day’s delay costs lives. One day at one hospital without oxygen had 8 people die gasping for breadth!

— Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) May 2, 2021

Also read: ’50 lives at risk’: Delhi Children hospital sends out SoS over oxygen shortage

On Sunday, a record 3,689 daily COVID-19 fatalities pushed India’s death toll to 2,15,542, while the infection count reached 1,95,57,457 with 3,92,488 more people testing positive for the contagion, according to the Union Health Ministry. The active cases have also crossed the 33-lakh mark, it said.