AKIPRESS.COM - India has supplied the 13th batch of medical assistance, consisting of essential medicines and medical and surgical items, to Afghanistan, the India’s External Affairs Ministry said on Tuesday, Pajwork reported.

The aid was provided in continuation of India’s “special relationship with the people of Afghanistan and in view of the urgent appeals made by the United Nations to assist the Afghan people”, the Ministry said.

The consignment included essential medicines, pediatric stethoscopes, mobile sphygmomanometers with pediatric blood pressure cuff, infusion pumps, drip chamber sets and nylon sutures. The supplies were handed over to authorities of the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital in Kabul.

India has so far supplied almost 45 tons of medical assistance to Afghanistan, including life-saving and anti-TB medicines, 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, and surgical items. In addition, India has also supplied 40,000 tons of wheat for the Afghan people through land route crossing India-Pakistan border.

Last year, India pledged to supply 50,000 tons of wheat to Afghanistan but the movement of the grains has been hampered due to conditions imposed by the Pakistani side.

Farid Mamundzay, the Afghanistan’s Ambassador to India appointed by the former Ashraf Ghani government, thanked the Indian government for the assistance.

“I greatly appreciate #India’s timely & generous response to help alleviate the ongoing humanitarian crisis in #Afghanistan by supplying 45 tons of medical assistance, including essential lifesaving medicines, 500,000 doses of COVID vaccine, together with 40,000 MTs of wheat,” Mamundzay said in a tweet.

India has been pitching for providing unimpeded humanitarian aid to Afghanistan to address the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the country following the capture of power by the Taliban.

India has been pitching for the formation of a truly inclusive government in Kabul besides insisting that Afghan soil must not be used for any terrorist activities against any country. In June this year, India re-established its diplomatic presence in Kabul by deploying a technical team in its embassy in the Afghan capital.

India withdrew its officials from the embassy after the Taliban seized power last August.