NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, AUG 19
The U.S. Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in coordination with the Government of India and the Indian Red Cross Society, donated the second shipment of 100 state-of-the-art ventilators to assist India in its fight against COVID-19 here on Tuesday.
Announcing the delivery of the ventilators to India, U.S. Ambassador Kenneth I. 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.”
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The ventilators are manufactured in the United States 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, such as tubes, filters, and other necessary components. USAID is also working in close coordination with the Government of India 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.
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 eight regional All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) facilities.
The total donation of 200 ventilators builds on the long history of U.S.-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 health care system’s resilience, readiness, and response capacity in several high-burden states.
As on August 7, a total of 3 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.
The United States continues to help friends and allies with pandemic response and leads the global response to combat COVID-19 through an All-of-America approach that includes governments, businesses, NGOs, and other organizations responding on the ground to combat the pandemic, the release added.
