Kanpur, May 5 -- At a weekly average of 3.3 lakh COVID-19 cases across India, hospitals have run out of medicines, beds, ventilators, and other life-saving drugs and equipment. Heart-breaking scenes of desperate citizens crying for help outside hospitals, oxygen refilling centres, and cremation grounds present a grim situation that demands urgent attention.

The healthcare system is collapsing. Patients are gasping for oxygen. Even as India plans to import 1 lakh oxygen concentrators the scramble for cylinders and concentrators continues. While help has started pouring in from other countries, this too is a stop gap arrangement and India needs to channel its local resources immediately to meet the demand for equipment.

To help combat the...