For the Indian diaspora living in Japan, the end of April was heavy with news of loved ones in India infected with COVID-19, feeling helpless thousands of miles away from home as India’s health system collapsed in a second wave of the pandemic.
Wanting to help, Indian communities from around the world have been sending oxygen concentrators — the need of the hour — to India, through various channels. But when Indians in Japan tried to do the same, they faced several challenges, due to relatively fewer business channels, and the fact that doing such a thing was perhaps unprecedented.
Though the Japanese government has provided 800 ventilators and 800 oxygen concentrators to India as emergency aid, Indian residents were also trying to do the same on an individual basis. They first tried to ship oxygen concentrators from Japan without success, and then from Indonesia, which resulted in delays, and finally from within India with success, frustrating those desperate to help out their family and friends back home.