At a time when the world is scrambling to fight against the Wuhan coronavirus, India’s help to the poorer countries both in the past and the present, has turned out to be extremely crucial and saved thousands of lives. This time around, Mauritius is the beneficiary of India’s benevolence as the state-of-the-art hospital that it built in Mauritius is now being used by the country to treat the patients of the Wuhan coronavirus.
In October 2019, PM Narendra Modi and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth jointly e-inaugurated a new state-of-the-art Hospital which is now being extensively used by Mauritius to treat the patients of the Wuhan coronavirus.
It is important to note that Mauritius was one of the first countries to receive the vital drug, Hydroxychloroquine which is being hailed as the game changer in the fight against the Wuhan coronavirus. India sent 13 tonnes of medicines to Mauritius on April 15 which included half a million tablets of Hydroxychloroquine. The consignment was personally received by the country’s Vice Prime Minister Mrs Dookun at the airport. Presently, India is preparing to send another consignment of medicines which includes Ayurvedic medicines to Mauritius.
Mauritius just like India is in a lockdown and the country is doing pretty well to contain the virus. On May 4, the country didn’t record a single new case of the virus for 8 consecutive days. The country’s lockdown has been extended till June 1 and it has 332 confirmed cases of the virus of which 320 have recovered while 10 have unfortunately succumbed to the virus.
However, this is not the first time India’s help has been extremely crucial in times of crisis. India has also revived a factory in Kenya and now it is supplying masks to entire East Africa. Over half a year back, India’s Export-Import bank granted a loan to Kenya to modernise its textile factory which also happens to be East Africa’s largest factory and is now producing thousands of face masks to help the continent fight the pandemic.
Additionally, when Kenyan Secretary requested External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for uplifting the export ban on HCQ tablets which was subsequently granted on the spot by India. Kenya is now purchasing 379 thousand tablets of HCQ from India in the middle of the pandemic.
There is no doubt that India’s helping hand is being appreciated by countries across the world and after the virus has been defeated, countries will look to develop more deeper and strategic relationships with India.