Published 13:39 IST, January 30th 2021
Trump sent 8,700 ventilators worth $200 mn worldwide that can't be found now: Watchdog
US Agency for International Development has been trying to locate the ventilators which were dispatched to 43 different countries through Sept. 30, 2020.
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US Government Accountability Office (GAO) on January 29 said in a report that at least 8,722 ventilators that the Trump administration sent to other countries that were worth $200 million to help them respond to COVID-19 cannot be traced. The United States Agency for International Development has been trying to locate the ventilators which were dispatched to 43 different countries through Sept. 30, 2020, in an initiative started by former President Donald Trump who spent $200 million on the global ventilator push, according to a report published Thursday by the Government Accountability Office found that USAID.
“Since November 2020, the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has rapidly increased, further straining health care systems across the country. Between December 31, 2020, and January 13, 2021, new reported COVID-19 cases averaged about 225,000 per day—over 7 and 3 times higher than the surges the nation experienced in 2020,” the GAO report stated, sighting the need to ramp up availability of ventilating machines.
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“Country continues to experience serious economic repercussions and turmoil,” the report said, adding that GAO was making 13 recommendations to federal agencies to improve recovery efforts to address critical gaps in the medical supply chain. Furthermore, the watchdog then alleged that the Trump administration lent the mechanical ventilators to several nations across the globe with no clear criteria for determining who should get them, and now, there was no means to keep track of where many ended up. The GAO condemned the US Agency for International Development, which carried out the administration's orders for the lack of its decision-making.
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Trump called US 'king of ventilators'
Former President Trump had declared the US as "the king of ventilators,” as he manufactured the machines domestically in large quantities and donated to the foreign countries with no record—whatsoever. The distribution strategy was also found highly flawed as countries with minimum cover cases were donated ventilators in huge numbers. Sri Lanka, for instance, had just three new coronavirus cases per day and the Trump administration dispatched 200 ventilators. While Bangladesh with alarming 1,409 new cases was sent only 100. Small nations such as Nauru and Kiribati, which reported zero cases, received ventilator donations. There was no rhyme or reason in the strategy to distribute the machines worldwide, a USAID official told Devex on condition of anonymity. The effort, despite coordination with National Security Council, lacked direction.
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13:42 IST, January 30th 2021