With a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) just around the corner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted the offer of his counterpart in Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, to install a specialized refrigerated vaccine transport plant. in Gujarat to guarantee the last mile. delivery of medicines to towns throughout the country.
According to official sources based in Delhi and Ahmedabad, Luxembourg firm B Medical Systems will dispatch a high-level team to Gujarat next week to establish a vaccine cold chain that includes refrigerators, freezers and solar vaccine transport boxes. Since the installation of a complete plant will take almost two years, the company has decided to start by sourcing only the refrigeration boxes from Luxembourg and sourcing the best content from the domestic market under the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” program. Refrigerated shipping boxes will be able to deliver the vaccine between four degrees Celsius to minus 20 degrees Celsius even though the Luxembourg-based company has the technology to transport the vaccine at minus 80 degrees.
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While Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is personally overseeing Luxembourg’s proposal, Santosh Jha, India’s ambassador to the European Union, met virtually with the company’s CEO and Deputy CEO on November 20 to finalize the agreements with Gujarat.
While the refrigerated boxes, powered by solar energy, kerosene, gas and electricity, are expected to be ready for delivery in March 2021, the company B Medical Systems will establish a complete plant in Gujarat in phase II to not only supply India requirement but also exporting it to other countries.
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Official sources said the proposal was made by Bettel to Prime Minister Modi during the first bilateral summit on November 19. Given concerns over the delivery of vaccines in the last mile in India, Prime Minister Modi immediately seized the opportunity and the proposal was pushed by both sides with the company establishing contact with the Gujarat government.
B Medical Systems is a Luxembourg-based pioneer in the medical equipment industry. It was founded in 1979 when the World Health Organization (WHO) approached parent company Electrolux in Vianden to provide a solution to safely store and transport vaccines around the world. The company is also a world leader in refrigerators for blood banks and plasma storage.
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