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Chinese graduates who have studied in British universities donated two ventilators to the National Health Service (NHS) to express their support and care for the British people, said the British embassy in China in a statement released Wednesday.
As part of the Chevening Scholarships, a British government's global scholarships program, 300 former students from the Chevening Alumni made personal donations of 38,000 pounds (about 46,982 U.S. dollars) to buy the two ventilators, which have been shipped Tuesday from Shanghai to London.
The donation came amid growing concern over a shortage of the personal protective equipment (PPE) for the frontline medical staff in Britain.
In an open letter, the Alumni said: "We wish to show our support and care by standing with British people in fighting with the pandemic. We have good faith and wish a full and swift success in our joint effort."
To show their solidarity with the British people, the alumni group attached a note to each ventilators that read "We are with you" and included the Chinese proverb "through wind and rain, we stand together".
"Thank you to the graduates from the UK Government's Chevening program for their fundraising efforts." said Minister of State for Asia Nigel Adams. "In total we have now shipped over 800 ventilators from China and we continue to seek deliveries for more," Adams added.
There are currently over 200,000 Chinese students studying in Britain and over 600,000 alumni from British universities.
Meanwhile, amid growing concern over the personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage for the frontline medical staff, the Chinese community in Britain donated 30,000 protective medical gowns to the NHS on Monday.
According to the British Chinese Community Group, by the last weekend, more than 4 million pieces of PPE have been donated by the Chinese businesses, the Chinese community groups and individuals to the NHS and local care homes in Britain.
On April 8, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in the UK donated 1.862 million items of medical supplies including 20 ventilators to the Lord Mayor's Appeal, the official charity of City of London.
