The US announced the delivery of a 100 ventilators to the Afghan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) to help the country care for COVID-19 patients.
 
Speaking at the related ceremony in Kabul on Thursday, the US embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires Ross Wilson said the aim is part of President Donald Trump’s assistance to help combat coronavirus in the world.
 
Meanwhile, acting Minister of Public Health Mohammad Jawad Osmani said that the ventilators will be dispatched to those provinces where people suffered from the virus the most.
 
He said that USAID will assist the Ministry of Public Health to install the ventilators.
 
“Training and installation of these devices (ventilators) in various health centers in Afghanistan, and the maintenance and care of these devices for at least six months after they are installed in health centers, will be carried out by USAID,” said Osmani.
 
The cost of the ventilators is estimated to be $1.5 million.
 
“President Trump pledged to provide assistance in the forms of ventilators to countries across the world including in Afghanistan that need them to fight COVID-19. Our donation of one hundred state-of-the-art ventilators provides much needed equipment to those on the frontlines, the health care heroes of Afghanistan helping the people of this country,” said US Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires Ross Wilson.
 
The Afghan government meanwhile welcomed the US assistance to Afghanistan.
 
“I am confident that the honorable minister of public health will distribute these to the 34 provinces of the country in a just manner, the people of Afghanistan have strong concerns about the second wave of COVID-19, this assistance is quite important for the Afghan people,” said Shakir Kargar, the chief of staff of the office of the president.
 
Statistics by the Afghan Ministry of Public Health say that currently Afghanistan has 1,020 ventilators.