US President Donald Trump announced to send ventilators to India, says both countries working together on vaccine.
The United States will donate ventilators to “friends in India”, President Donald Trump has tweeted while also revealing that both countries are working together on a vaccine against Covid-19.
“We stand with India and @narendramodi during this pandemic. We’re also cooperating on vaccine development. Together we will beat the invisible enemy!” President Trump said.
The US move comes weeks after Prime Minister Modi acted on Trump’s request to reverse a ban on export of hydroxychloroquine or HCQ, a malaria drug that was championed by the US President as a “game changer” in the fight against the coronavirus. Apparently this was a reciprocal gesture to India’s decision to lift its own restrictions and export this anti-malarial drug, which Trump believed was effective in the fight against the coronavirus. HCQ, is being used in India as a prophylaxis for health workers at the frontline of the country’s response to the epidemic.
To help Indians combat Covid-19, US will airlift 200 mobile ventilators to India by month end.
“It has been indicated that the consignment will arrive by the end of this month or latest, early June,” a government official said. Each of these mobile ventilators is estimated to cost $ 13,000 (Rs 9.6 lakh at current exchange rates) without accounting for the transportation costs. In all, the ventilators will cost about $ 2.6 million (or Rs 192 million) plus freight charges.
Diplomats in Washington and New Delhi said Trump’s offer to send the ventilators and his public statements were an indicator of the deepening ties between the two countries and close contact between the two countries at different levels.
