US Ambassador to India hands over first tranche of 100 ventilators to India
Jun 16, 2020
New Delhi [India], June 16 : U.S. Ambassador to India Kenneth I. Juster on Tuesday handed over the first lot of 100 ventilators from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to New Delhi here at the Indian Red Cross Headquarters.
In the fight against COVID-19, the much-awaited ventilators were handed to India to treat the coronavirus patients as promised by United States President Donald Trump.
The first lot of ventilators, which arrived on Monday, are high technology are manufactured by Zoll US-based firm and are arriving from Chicago in the US.
A senior government official told ANI: "On Monday, about 100 ventilators are arriving from the United States as a donation. Ventilators would come to India by Air India flight. This is entirely managed by the India Red Cross Society."
"Once the ventilators would arrive in India, there is a small inaugural function at IRCS after which these ventilators would be distributed to hospital for patient care," said the official who is familiar with this matter.
Ventilators have emerged as a key medical device to treat critical coronavirus patients.
On May 16, US President Trump had tweeted: "I am proud to announce that the United States will donate ventilators to our friends in India. We stand with India and
@narendramodi during this pandemic. We're also cooperating on vaccine development. Together we will beat the invisible enemy!"
In response to Trump's tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked him in a tweet and highlighted the India-US relationship.
"In such times, it's always important for nations to work together and do as much as possible to make our world healthier and free from Covid-19," PM Modi said in a tweet.
