Indian-origin billionaire businessman Vinod Khosla pledges $10M for oxygen supply in India

Indian-origin billionaire businessman Vinod Khosla has pledged $10 million for supplying medical oxygen to hospitals in India amidst an unprecedented second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Taking to Twitter, the 66-year-old venture capitalist said that there was a need to save lives as further delay could end up in more deaths.

"For @GiveIndia this isn't enough. They've received requests for 20,000 oxygen concentrators, 15,000 cylinders, 500 ICU beds, 100 ventilators, 10,000-beds COVID centres with requests coming from non-profits and hospitals all across India every day. We need to do a lot more urgently," Khosla said on Sunday.

This is in continuation with the Sun Microsystems co-founder's efforts to fund hospitals for oxygen supplies.

"The Khosla Family is adding $10 million to @GiveIndia to its previous commitment as a match and hoping others will join in this urgent need," Khosla said.

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On Sunday, a record 3,689 daily COVID-19 fatalities pushed India's death toll to 2,15,542, while the infection count reached 1,95,57,457 with 3,92,488 more people testing positive for the contagion, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The active cases have also crossed the 33-lakh mark, it said.

In another development last week, global financial services giant Goldman Sachs announced an additional $10 million in support to help India fight the second surge in COVID-19 infections and deaths.

The US-headquartered firm will provide support for frontline health facilities in cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi, including ongoing vaccination efforts through the help, an official statement said.

Frontline health facilities include portable COVID-19 care centres, oxygen concentrators and generators, and isolation care units at homes for non-critical patients from low-income communities, it said, adding funds will also be deployed on mental wellbeing to aid a faster economic recovery in communities.

The company joins a slew of multinationals, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Blackstone, who have announced help to India after the second wave of the deadly pandemic.

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)