109 ventilators provided to hospitals during 18 days, ministers briefed

HARIPUR: National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) has provided 109 ventilators to hospitals across the country in last 18 days after repairing them free of cost, ARY NEWS reported.

This was briefed by NRTC Managing Director to Federal Minister for Defence Production Zubaida Jalal and Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry during their visit to the corporation.

“These ventilators are currently used by the hospitals across the country,” said the NRTC MD.

The federal ministers also visited the research facilities and production line of the NRTC and lauded the research activities and other projects initiated by the corporation.

On April 06, Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar on Monday chaired meeting at National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) in Islamabad to review measures against COVID-19.

Interior Minister Aijaz Shah, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Zafar Mirza, Moeed Yousuf were present during the meeting, while all chief secretaries of provinces attended the meeting via video link.

The meeting was briefed that there are currently 3844 ventilators available in the country, while 2000 more will be imported from China.

The meeting was told that there are 1697 ventilators in Punjab, 1550 in Sindh, 400 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 74 ventilators are available in hospitals across Balochistan.

Islamabad hospitals have 47 ventilators while 63 ventilators are present in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Earlier in the day, Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lieutenant General Muhammad Afzal briefing Parliamentary Committee in Islamabad, said 500 ventilators will reach Pakistan on Thursday, while 29,000 protective kits for doctors and paramedics have been provided to provinces.