Abu Dhabi's Hindu temple sends tonnes of life-saving liquid oxygen to India

The first shipment is part of a planned monthly delivery of 440 tonnes of relief aid

One of two tanks carrying 44 tonnes of liquid oxygen that will be shipped from Dubai to India. Courtesy: All photos by Baps Hindu Mandir

A priest offers a traditional Hindu prayer before a shipment of oxygen tanks and cylinders leaves Dubai for India to support hospitals reeling from oxygen shortages.

About 600 oxygen cylinders are being shipped to India from Dubai along with two tanks filled with 44 tonnes of liquid oxygen.

Swami Brahmavihari, a priest with Baps Swaminarayan Sanstha, offers a traditional Hindu prayer before shipping 600 oxygen cylinders to hospitals in India.

About 600 oxygen cylinders are being shipped to India from Dubai along with two tanks carrying 44 tonnes of liquid oxygen.

About 600 oxygen cylinders are being shipped to India from Dubai along with two tanks with 44 tonnes of liquid oxygen.

A Hindu priest offers a traditional prayer before shipping oxygen tanks, cylinders and oxygen concentrators to hospitals in India.

The medical supplies have been organised by the Baps Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi.

The first shipment is part of a planned monthly supply of 440 tonnes for patients in Indian hospitals.

Medical grade oxygen is being shipped to Indian hospitals from Dubai.

The organisation behind Abu Dhabi's new Hindu temple sent two tanks carrying 44 tonnes of liquid oxygen to India.

The shipment will be used to fill thousands of oxygen cylinders in Indian hospitals reeling from shortages that have forced facilities to turn away critically ill Covid-19 patients.

About 350 oxygen concentrators, 600 oxygen cylinders and liquid oxygen stored at minus 185°C are part of the first phase of relief supplies sent by the temple group.

The shipment from Dubai will reach Mundra in India's Gujarat state on Friday.

The Baps Swaminarayan Sanstha, the organisation building the UAE's first traditional Hindu temple in the UAE's capital, plans to create a supply chain of oxygen by providing more than 440 tonnes of liquid oxygen per month, starting this week.

This would be sufficient to fill about 53,000 oxygen cylinders, said Swami Brahmavihari, a priest handling international affairs.

The oxygen will be made available to the government and to the country's Covid-19 hospitals that Baps supports.

He said the group was keen to help during a time when “Covid-19 has completely taken India into its alarming grip”.

“Our role is to save as many lives as possible, to support the people in need,” he said.

The temple authorities aim to send a message of hope and faith to families struggling to cope in a country that has lost 218,951 lives to the disease.

According to official figures, India registered 3,417 deaths and 368,147 new cases in the past 24 hours.

Several nations, including the UAE, have stepped in to send medicines and oxygen equipment to facilities desperately in need.

“Our biggest role is to not just supply oxygen, provide medical help, or reach out to people with food and facilities," the priest said.

“The real help lies in providing emotional comfort, to generate positivity, to create hope that yes, this too shall pass. We will rise again and through unity and harmony, through the spirit of service and selflessness, we will be able to overcome this.”

The organisation has provided almost 10 million food packets to people in India. It offers subsidised treatment to thousands of Covid-19 patients in five medical facilities and field hospitals it supports.

The group has built 1,200 temples around the world and is constructing a shrine in Abu Dhabi that will be ready next year.

India's Covid-19 crisis - in pictures