Capgemini commits Rs 50 cr to augment medical infra in India to tackle COVID crisis

New Delhi, May 3

IT major Capgemini on Monday committed Rs 50 crore to augment medical infrastructure in India to tackle the COVID-19 crisis.

In addition, Capgemini is also contributing Rs 5 crore to UNICEF to provide immediate support across India for critical COVID-19 response care, by setting up three oxygen generation plants and RT-PCR testing machines to augment the government's efforts to fight against the pandemic.

The Rs 50-crore fund will be used to build COVID care ICU facilities, oxygen generation plants, other long-term medical infrastructure and provide relief operations, a statement said.

As part of this effort, Capgemini is in discussions with various State government authorities to set up healthcare facilities across those cities where Capgemini has its presence. 

This contribution will be in addition to the Capgemini CSR statutory fund in India, the statement said.

"India is at the heart of what we do in Capgemini, and the health and safety of our employees and the communities we live in, remains our top priority. This second wave of the pandemic in India has been particularly challenging, and we want to ensure all our support to fight this pandemic and come out stronger," Capgemini CEO Aiman Ezzat said.

At this critical time, the company is committed to accelerating medical assistance in India through the Capgemini Social Response Unit, Ezzat added.

"This fund will help to enhance the efforts of the Central and State authorities in building long-term medical infrastructure in India,” Ezzat said.

Ashwin Yardi, CEO of Capgemini in India, said the company is also striving to extend help to the communities by providing access to critical care, which is required immediately for the fight against COVID-19 as well as medical needs in the coming years.

During 2020, in line with Capgemini's social commitment, Capgemini's Social Response Unit (SRU) provided 65 fully equipped ICU beds to three BMC hospitals in Mumbai, as well as 100 Oxygen Concentrators (OC) and 65 High Flow Nasal Cannulas (HFNC) to 15 government hospitals across Bengaluru. 

These ICU beds, which are fully equipped with ventilators, ECG monitors, and other critical ICU patient-monitoring devices, are currently being used to treat patients critically affected by COVID-19.

The massive rise in infections in the second wave of the pandemic has led to hospitals in several states reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds. Social media timelines are filled with SOS calls with people looking for oxygen cylinders, hospital beds, plasma donors, and ventilators.

Organisations across the spectrum have come forward to source and donate oxygenators, breathing machines, and ventilators.

IT companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and HCL Technologies are taking several steps to contribute to these efforts including setting up COVID care centres at their facilities. PTI 

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