An Indian Railways' Oxygen Express carrying 200 MT Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) in 10 containers left Tatanagar railway junction of Indian state Jharkhand for Bangladesh this morning.
“The consignment will be decanted in Bangladesh and supplied to hospitals in the country to support our partners in the fight against the current Covid wave,” said an Indian Press Information Bureau’s press release that was disseminated by the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, reports BSS.
This is the first time ever that the Oxygen Express is put into operation in the neighbouring country, after these special train services were started in India on April 24, 2021, it said.
“This consignment would significantly augment necessary reserves of Liquid medical Oxygen in Bangladesh,” said the release, adding that the Indian Railways continue to provide respite through Oxygen Expresses.
India is committed to further sharing medical supplies, in tandem with the improvement in its own pandemic situation with its closest partners in the neighbourhood, it added.
So far, the release said, 480 such Oxygen Expresses were operationalized within India.
Earlier on July 21, India sent 11 tankers carrying around 180 Metric Tonnes of Liquefied Medical Oxygen to Bangladesh by road on an emergency basis.