Prince Charles has urged the public to back an appeal to buy oxygen equipment for India.
Camera IconPrince Charles has urged the public to back an appeal to buy oxygen equipment for India. Credit: AP

Prince Charles, UK offers help to India


Prince Charles has thrown his support behind India's fight against a COVID-19 crisis, while the UK has offered more aid in the form of oxygen generators.

Charles says he is "deeply saddened" by the devastating surge in coronavirus deaths in India and he's urged the public to back an appeal to buy oxygen equipment for the nation.

"Indian aid and ingenuity has been a support to other countries through this immensely difficult time. As India has helped others, so now must we help India," Charles said in a message to the people of India.

He added that he has a "great love for India" and that he wanted "those suffering the effects of this pandemic in India to know that they are in my thoughts and prayers".

The British Asian Trust, a charity Charles founded in 2007, launched an emergency appeal called Oxygen for India to buy oxygen concentrators, which can extract oxygen from the air when hospital infrastructure struggles to cope.

As of Wednesday, the charity had raised more than 270,000 pounds, and the funds will be sent to the charity's local partners in India to procure oxygen equipment for the seriously ill in both cities and harder to reach rural areas.

"We've surpassed anything we thought we're going raise before," said Hitan Mehta, executive director of the trust.

"We've had lots of inquiries from people about what they're able to do, and what we are suggesting is donating their funds so we can make a difference on the ground immediately."

Britain is home to a large Indian community of about 1.4 million people, and many have sought ways to support their home country during this crisis.



The Foreign Office said late Wednesday that the UK will also send three oxygen generation units to support India's fight against the pandemic.

The units, the size of shipping containers, can each produce 500 litres of oxygen per minute, enough for 50 people to use at a time, officials said.