US hands over second shipment of 100 ventilators to India

The United States handed over the second shipment of 100 new and state-of-the-art ventilators to assist India in its fight against COVID-19.

Announcing the delivery of the ventilators to India, US Ambassador Kenneth I Juster said, “We are very pleased to hand over the final tranche of 100 ventilators to India, fulfilling President (Donald) Trump’s commitment to provide these critically needed supplies to support India’s pandemic response.”

Through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), in coordination with the Government of India and the Indian Red Cross Society, the US government donated the final tranche of 100 ventilators to India, said a statement by the US Embassy in India on Wednesday.

The ventilators are manufactured in the US and are compact, easy to deploy and provide India with flexibility in treating patients affected by the virus.

“In addition to the ventilators, USAID is funding a package of support that includes warranties and additional supplies required to operate these machines like tubes, filters and other necessary components. USAID is also working in close coordination with the Government of India to enhance the capacity of health facilities using these ventilators by facilitating setup, orientations and clinical training for healthcare providers responsible for operating the machines,” the statement said.

“Fulfilling the US Government’s commitment, @usaid_india delivered the remaining 100 brand-new, Made-in-USA ventilators to @IndianRedCross on behalf of the @MoHFW_INDIA,” Juster said in a tweet.

The first shipment of 100 ventilators arrived in India on June 14. Since then, the ventilators have been deployed to support the care of COVID-19 patients at the eight regional All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

“The total donation of 200 ventilators builds on the long history of US-India collaboration in the health sector and the assistance that USAID has committed to India in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. USAID’s efforts have strengthened India’s healthcare system’s resilience, readiness and response capacity in several high-burden states,” said the statement.

As of August 7, a total of three million people in India have directly benefited from USAID support. USAID has trained 40,700 health workers on best practices to integrate COVID-19 prevention and risk mitigation into essential health services; 46,000 frontline workers on risk communication and provided 950 health care facilities with support to increase social distancing, infection prevention control and patient management.

Source: ANI