Paytm Foundation will be setting up oxygen plants in 12-13 cities as hospitals across pan-India face oxygen shortage amid the tumultuous second COVID-19 wave. These oxygen plants would be directly installed at hospitals, which would serve the oxygen needs for the entire hospital. Paytm Foundation has also sourced over 21,000 oxygen concentrators that would be sent to government hospitals, COVID care facilities, private hospitals, nursing homes as well as resident welfare associations in the mid of May.

The company has currently raised Rs 10 crore from people across the country under its #OxygenForIndia initiative and has mirrored the donation amount making it a total contribution of Rs 20 crore. Paytm is working in conjunction with other prominent organisations including Elevation Capital and the American Indian Foundation. The donation garnered under the initiative will be used to purchase oxygen concentrators and oxygen plants, costing between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore each.

Paytm is currently between dialogues with state governments and hospitals for affirmation and approval to set up these oxygen plants; once purchased, the oxygen plants will be provided free of cost to government hospitals by Paytm Foundation.

Paytm spokesperson said, “While oxygen concentrators are good for short term support, we figured out that oxygen plants could provide our healthcare system with larger support. Hence, we decided to direct our donations to build oxygen plants at government hospitals for free. We are overwhelmed at the collective effort and support citizens of the country have shown to help pacify the ordeal caused by the pandemic’s second wave.”

With aim of saving a maximum number of lives, the Paytm Foundation is also supporting other start-ups, organisations and enterprises to source OCs from the international market. The entire sourcing, regulatory approvals, and delivery will be managed by the foundation, while the other organisations only need to pay for the cost of the OCs that they will order.