Published 11:12 IST, March 30th 2020
Donald Trump accuses hospitals of hoarding ventilators amid COVID-19 crisis
Donald Trump emphasized that the usage of the masks had surged from the previous 20,000 to 300,000 in a week. He said he suspected that masks were being stolen.
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US President Donald Trump reportedly accused hospitals of hoarding the masks and ventilators and stated that the medical staff needed to release the equipment that was not being used on March 29. During a White House press conference, Trump said that some hospitals have stockpiled the ventilators, and those should immediately be released, not specifying any hospitals in particular.
According to reports, Donald Trump emphasized that the usage of the masks had surged from the previous 20,000 to 300,000 in a week. He said he suspected that the masks were being stolen. He further asked the press reporters to investigate the disappearance of the masks. He told the press that masks were “going out of the backdoor”, many states hoarded them, they just don’t admit it.
NY needs 30,000 ventilators
Trump’s accusations come amid New York governor’s appeal from the federal government to arrange for more ventilators to bout the rising hospital needs. Andrew Cuomo told a press conference in NY that he needed at least 30,000 ventilators to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. And that, the hospitals had pushed their limits. Trump, meanwhile, said that mega-hospital lines held several non-usable ventilators, and didn’t want to hand it over, a US media outlet reported.
Donald Trump pressed on the New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Cuomo in the news briefing to “investigate” into the missing masks. He asked the public to check what was going on. Additionally, he pointed out that he didn’t think the stocks he supplied were being hoarded but feared something much worse than that. He was addressing the conference after a meeting with the corporate executives from the US Medical Group, as per the media reports. Earlier, Trump had accused General Motors Co of “wasting time” during negotiations, after he ordered the US automaker to manufacture ventilators for the coronavirus patients.
11:12 IST, March 30th 2020