US hands over second shipment of 100 ventilators to India in Covid-19 assistance

New Delhi, Aug.19 (PTI): The US on Wednesday handed over to India 100 ventilators, as part of President Donald Trump’s offer of assistance to New Delhi in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

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, the US embassy said in a statement.

The US government, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), in coordination with the Indian government and the Indian Red Cross Society, donated the second shipment of 100 new, state-of-the-art ventilators to assist India in its fight against Covid-19, the statement said.

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

In addition to the ventilators, USAID is funding a package of support that includes warranties and additional supplies required to operate these machines, such as tubes, filters and other necessary components, the statement said.

USAID is also working in close coordination with the Indian government to enhance the capacity of the health facilities using these ventilators by facilitating setup, orientations and clinical training for health care providers responsible for operating the machines, it said.

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 (AIIMS), the statement said. “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,” it added.