South Nassau Sends Urgently-Needed Medical Supplies To India

OCEANSIDE, NY — While Long Island has been able to manage the pandemic effectively, it's been a struggle on an epic level in India.

Mount Sinai South Nassau is lending a global hand.

The Oceanside hospital led the way in shipping $100,000 in essential medical supplies, equipment and personal protective equipment. They are also sending $55,000 to use to fund more critical medical supplies, Mount Sinai South Nassau said in a statement.

Items are getting sent by the Wheels Global Foundation to hospitals in India.

"The purpose of this mission has two equally important aspects: to provide the hospitals, our clinical colleagues and their patients with the medical equipment and supplies they need to battle COVID-19," Dr. Rajiv Datta, Chair of the Department of Surgery at Mount Sinai South Nassau, said in a statement.

Datta spearheaded the initiative that included thousands of PPE face shields, masks, gowns and sterile gloves as well as 10 pneumatic ventilators, six CPAP machines and two ventilators, along with a significant inventory of the valves, filters and masks needed to operate that equipment.

At the height of the recent surge in India, more than 300,000 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported daily and an average of 130 people have died of COVID-19 each hour, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard.

"We know firsthand how devastating this disease can be," Richard J. Murphy, president & CEO of Mount Sinai South Nassau, said in a statement. "Many organizations and individuals helped us get through the worst of it last year. Now it’s our turn to try and help."