india

Updated: Mar 29, 2020 12:40 IST

The Jack Ma Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation have pledged to donate essential medical supplies to India. The first batch of medical supplies for India arrived in Delhi on Saturday and was received by the Indian Red Cross Society, the foundations said in a joint statement on Sunday. Jack Ma is the founder of the Chinese multinational Alibaba Group.

Similar to the arrangement with the Italian Red Cross Society in Italy, the Indian charity will facilitate the distribution of these supplies in the country. The remainder of the donation is expected to reach India in the coming days, it said.

Besides India, the foundations have pledged similar relief to six more countries—Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Collectively, these seven countries will receive a total of 1.7 million face masks, 165,000 test kits as well as protective clothing and medical equipment such as ventilators and forehead thermometers, it said. With this announcement, the two Foundations have now donated essential medical supplies to 23 Asian countries totalling 7.4 million masks; 485,000 test kits; 100,000 sets of protective clothing along with other medical equipment.

Ma Jia, deputy chief of mission of the Embassy of China in India, was also present when the donations arrived on Sunday to show the embassy’s support towards this humanitarian initiative, the statement said.

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RK Jain, secretary general, Indian Red Cross appreciated the magnanimity of the two foundations at this difficult juncture. “Government of India has taken extensive steps to manage the Covid-19 situation. To supplement the efforts of government, Indian Red Cross has mobilised the first tranche of supplies consisting of face masks, protective body suits and essential medical equipment,” he said.

“We are committed to doing everything we can to make a difference, most importantly by sourcing these supplies and overcoming logistical challenges to get the medical supplies to where they are needed as fast as we can,” said the Jack Ma Foundation.