British doctors have warned that 250 ventilators bought from China could cause “significant patient harm, including death” if there are used on Chinese coronavirus suffers in hospitals in the United Kingdom.
Senior doctors from a National Health Service (NHS) regional trust in Birmingham said that the build of the Shangrila 510 model ventilators, made by Beijing Aeonmed Co Ltd, was “basic” and that the oxygen supply was “variable and unreliable”.
It was also the wrong type as it was designed for ambulances, meaning medics had to set up make-shift stands for the mobile devices to place next to hospital beds. The cloth casing is also said to be difficult to clean, causing hygiene concerns in the high-infection environment, according to the letter seen by American network NBC News and published on Thursday.
“We believe that if used, significant patient harm, including death, is likely,” the letter said, continuing: “We look forward to the withdrawal and replacement of these ventilators with devices better able to provide intensive care ventilation for our patients.”
The letter was dated April 13th and penned by a doctor from Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust on behalf of other medics working in the region and sent to a senior NHS official. It was written eight days after senior Cabinet minister Michael Gove thanked the communist Chinese government for helping them secure an order of 300 ventilators.
This is not the first time there have been concerns over faulty Chinese medical equipment during the coronavirus pandemic.
In April, the British government admitted that the UK had bought millions of Chinese-made coronavirus tests that did not work. The New York Times later claimed that the British government had spent some £16 million on just two million coronavirus home test kits alone.
Spain, one of the worst-hit countries in Europe, had also received faulty equipment from China. In late March, it was revealed that Spain’s EU-certified coronavirus tests from China did not work. While in late April, defective Chinese masks forced more than 1,000 Spanish medics into self-quarantine over fears they may have been exposed to coronavirus.
The Netherlands also recalled 600,000 ineffective Chinese masks; the Czech Republic found that its 80 per cent of it order of 300,000 test kits were defective; and Finland found that its consignment of masks and personal protection equipment (PPE) that arrived from China were not up to standard.
In response, China has either blamed its customers for misusing the medical equipment or claimed that it had not received any complaints from its clients using official Chinese government channels at all.