Delhi airport a nerve centre for handling Covid-19 medical essential supplies

New Delhi:

New Delhi:

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Between April and June this year, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport has handled the supply of more than 20 million essential medical equipment and kits.

These items included 10.3 million face masks, 6.2 million gloves, 4.9 million protective goggles, 1.9 million bodysuits, 1.4 million shoe covers and at least 250 ventilators.

These items were supplied from Delhi airport to states and cities across India, including Nagaland, Manipur, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Assam, Cochin and Hyderabad, the airport operator said.

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) said soon after the lockdown was imposed, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had designated the Delhi Airport as a hub for import and distribution of essential medical supplies for the fight against Covid-19.

“During April to June 2020, the first quarter of the financial year 2021, more than 20 million pieces of essential medical supplies, the largest volume of essential medical supplies handled by any airport in India, has been handled by Delhi Airport,” the airport operator said in a statement.

It said while the country was under lockdown, the Delhi airport was working round the clock as a nerve centre for handling Covid-19 medical essential supplies through imports and channelling the distribution across the country. “These imported medical kits were distributed all across the country, including far-flung destinations of Northeast -- Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam, Sikkim – and major cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Cochin, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, etc,” it said.

Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO, DIAL said, “We ensured essential medical kits reached not only in the big cities, but in far-flung destinations of the country.”