Mahindra Group offers to make ventilators and use holiday resorts as temporary hospitals

India’s 52nd richest man Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group, on Sunday tweeted that his group is gearing up to manufacture ventilators on a war-footing. At Mahindra Holiday, he said, the company would be willing to convert them into temporary care facilities.

Mahindra had received a lot of flak as his tweet endorsing PM Modi’s ‘Taali and Thaali Bajao’ appeal coincided with Chinese billionaire Jack Ma’s tweet announcing that his foundation would be donating masks, protective gear and ventilators in millions to countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and even the US. He had markedly left out India from the list.

This had triggered questions whether Indian billionaires were only good at clapping, tweeting and beating pots and pans.

On Sunday, Mahindra redeemed himself by tweeting the following:

• Going by various reports from epidemiologists, it is highly likely that India is already in Stage 3 of transmission. —Cases could rise exponentially with millions of casualties, putting a huge strain on medical infrastructure

• A lockdown over the next few weeks will help flatten the curve & moderate the peak pressure on medical care. —However, we need to create scores of temporary hospitals & we have a scarcity of ventilators.

• To help in the response to this unprecedented threat, we at the Mahindra Group will immediately begin work on how our manufacturing facilities can make ventilators. —At Mahindra Holidays, we stand ready to offer our resorts as temporary care facilities.

• Our Projects team stands ready to assist the Govt/Army in erecting temporary care facilities. —The Mahindra Foundation will create a fund to assist the hardest hit in our value chain (small businesses & the self-employed)

• We will encourage associates to voluntarily contribute to the Fund. I will contribute 100% of my salary to it & will add more over the next few months. I urge all our various businesses to also set aside contributions for those who are the hardest hit in their ecosystems.