US President Donald Trump has finally fulfilled his promise to send ventilators to Nigeria.
Trump, in a telephone conversation with President Muhammadu Buhari in April, pledged to support Nigeria’s response to COVID-19 by sending ventilators.
However, the ventilators got to Nigeria five months after the US president made the promise.
While receiving 200 ventilators on behalf of the federal government from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at a ceremony in Abuja on Tuesday, Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, said medical items are critical to saving the lives of persons who have been severely affected by COVID-19.
The minister said life has not been the same for Nigerians since the first COVID-19 case was recorded in February.
“This donation consists of 200 ventilators, which, as we all know by now, are a critical component of the response strategy to save the lives of persons who have been severely impacted by this viral infection,” he said.
“They will certainly be of great benefit to the people of Nigeria and I wish to convey the appreciation of His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and of the government of Nigeria, to President Donald Trump and the United States Government for the generous consideration and friendly gesture.
“The Federal Ministry of Health, and its public health Agency, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), have focused on providing guidance to tackle the challenges.
“Our health workers have been trained and equipped and are doing the needful to attend to COVID-19 patients and give emergency care, while not losing sight of routine and essential health services.”
Ehanire asked the US to lend its full weight to global efforts in finding vaccine against COVID-19.
“The speed and ease with which COVID-19 has spread across the globe clearly shows that it is a threat to mankind. Without the full collaboration of all nations, the threat of covid to any one part of the world is a threat to all,” he said.
