Mastercard donates USD 8.9 million for India's COVID-19 relief work

Global payments company Mastercard has donated USD 8.9 million to a New York-based non-profit body, American India Foundation, to install 2,000 portable beds in India, which is reeling from a deadly wave of the COVID-19."Mastercard has granted an incredible USD 8.9 million to the AIF COVID-19 Response, to install 2,000 portable beds in India, addressing the immediate healthcare needs of the nation,” the AIF announced on Friday. The grant is estimated to help 2.5 million Indians to gain access to healthcare.

"This is AIF's largest-ever gift, and these funds will be used to procure and place portable hospitals in areas of greatest need across the country,” the non-profit body said. Every bed unit will be equipped with ventilator, medical equipment, and other supplies. Each unit can easily be de-constructed or re-purposed as extra space for various community needs, such as extra classrooms," a media release said. Meanwhile, New Jersey-based Mount Sinai Hospital on Friday announced that on May 3 it will be shipping 25 ventilators, and 100 sleep apnea machines with kits to convert them to ventilators, to hospitals all over India through a chartered plane to Mumbai. India on Saturday reported over 4,00,000 fresh Covid-19 cases for the first time as the tally crossed 19 million-mark, according to Union health ministry’s data. With 4,019, 93 fresh coronavirus cases, India”s Covid-19 tally has risen to 19,164,969. The country also recorded 3,523 deaths on Friday, including 870 in Maharashtra, 375 in Delhi, 332 in Uttar Pradesh, and 269 in Chhattisgarh.