Medtech Maldives, on Thursday, confirmed the import of 14 additional ventilators to support the country’s COVID-19 response efforts.
The company noted that the latest shipment marked the delivery of a total of 50 ventilators as per the MVR 14.4 million contract with the Ministry of Health.
The first batch, consisting of 18 ventilators, arrived in Maldives on May 10 while the second shipment of 20 ventilators was received on July 02. Two ventilators from the second shipment were handed over to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The ventilators are produced by GE Healthcare of the United States and Imtmedical of Switzerland, two leading manufacturers of medical technology approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the US.
As part of the ongoing COVID-19 response, the state has signed agreements with three different companies to acquire a total of 149 ventilators, including 24 ventilators from Naadu Pvt Ltd and 50 ventilators from MedTech Maldives Pvt Ltd, in addition to the 75 ventilators from Executors General Trading LLC.
At present, the Health Emergency Operations Centre (HEOC) asserted that Maldives has 124 ventilators that can be utilised.
A marked increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases occurred after the state eased lockdown restrictions across the Greater Male’ Region. The government initiated efforts to steer the country towards a ‘new normal’ in response to a sustained decrease of cases in May and early June.
The recent spike reduced the total amount of recovered patients from the peak of 86 to 54 per cent.
The Maldives currently records total 4,594 confirmed and 1,869 active COVID-19 cases, along with 2,706 recoveries and 19 deaths.
On March 12, WHO classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. To date, the new strain of novel coronavirus has infected over 21.3 million people and claimed over 763,300 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 14.1 million people have recovered.
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Source URL: Google News
