Oxfam India Partners With Microsoft To Support 1.5 Million People Impacted With COVID In 9 Indian States

Oxfam India Partners With Microsoft To Support 1.5 Million People Impacted With COVID In 9 Indian States

Press Release

Oxfam India partners with Microsoft to support 1.5 million people impacted with Covid in 9 Indian states

June 08, 2021, India: The second wave of coronavirus in India has been catastrophic; it has impacted every individual, household, and community. An alarming rise in the number of new infections in recent weeks has overstrained the healthcare ecosystem.

Oxfam and Microsoft have a long history of aiding humanitarian response and relief worldwide. Continuing the legacy, Oxfam India has partnered with Microsoft to help strengthen healthcare ecosystem to address the challenges that have come up with the 2nd wave and prepare for a possible wave 3. The partnership will enable access to critical Covid care health services for 1.5 million people in severely affected districts of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

“At Microsoft, we are deeply committed to support government’s efforts to democratize access to healthcare resources in these difficult times, especially for communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Through our partnership with Oxfam India, we are focused on using our technology, skills, resources, and voice to intensify support for severely affected rural parts. We believe a collaborative approach is the best way and will continue to work closely with government and nonprofit partners to accelerate response.” says Manju Dhasmana, Director Corporate Affairs - CSR/ Philanthropies, Microsoft India.

As part of the initiative, Oxfam India will:

• Setup 3 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technology-based oxygen plants at district and block level hospitals in rural Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh.
• Strengthen existing capacities of 12 hospitals with O2/ ICU beds and essential life-saving medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators, patient monitoring units, BiPAP machines and nasal masks in Bihar, Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.
• Provide essential covid care medical equipment to 200 government hospitals, primary health care centers, and charitable hospitals in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
• Train 10,000 frontline health workers on covid protocols and equip them with essential covid care kits, enabling them to serve their communities in Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

“India is facing an unprecedented crisis as the pandemic is leaving a trail of devastation and tragedy of unimaginable proportion. Though the health system is overwhelmed, the medical community (including doctors, nurses, paramedics, hospital support staff) continues to play a stellar role. We as citizens of this country must come forward to support the battle against COVID-19 in whatever way we can. Oxfam India is happy to partner with Microsoft to provide relief to the most marginalized people during this crisis,” says Amitabh Behar, CEO, Oxfam India.

For further information please contact:

Savvy Somya Misra: savvy@oxfamindia.org

About Oxfam India

Oxfam India is a movement of people working to create a just and equal India. We work to ensure that Adivasis, Dalits, Muslims, and women and girls have safe violence-free lives with freedom to speak their mind, equal opportunities to realize their rights, and a discrimination-free future.

During the last five years, Oxfam India has responded to more than 35 humanitarian disasters across the country and directly provided relief to nearly 1.5 million people. Oxfam India’s humanitarian response is guided by the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized communities in disaster affected areas.

About Microsoft India

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft set up its India operations in 1990. Today, Microsoft entities in India have over 13,000 employees, engaged in sales and marketing, research, development and customer services and support, across 11 Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune. Microsoft offers its global cloud services from local data centers to accelerate digital transformation across Indian startups, businesses, and government organizations.