According to the doctors. the ventilators had a “variable and unreliable” oxygen supply, were difficult to clean, and were unfamiliar to the British doctors because they were made for use in an ambulance rather than a hospital setting, according to Newsweek.
The UK government heralded the arrival of the ventilators from China on April 4, as an important step in the country’s fight against the Covid-19 outbreak, reports the Independent.
“We’ve been buying invasive ventilators from partners abroad, including Germany and Switzerland, and today 300 new ventilators arrived from China. I’d like to thank the Chinese government for their support in security that capacity,” cabinet minister Michael Gove told a press conference that day.
However, the very next week, health secretary Matt Hancock received a letter from doctors in the West Midlands, where some of the ventilators were sent, urging that the devices be replaced.
The doctor who wrote the letter works at the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, a regional division of the U.K.’s publicly funded National Health Service, and it was directly addressed to a senior NHS official.
“We believe that if used, significant patient harm, including death, is likely,” said a 13 April letter seen by NBC News. “We look forward to the withdrawal and replacement of these ventilators with devices better able to provide intensive care ventilation for our patients.”
It all came down to a common problem seen by many countries during the coronavirus pandemic. While scrambling to get enough of the right equipment needed to treat patients, procurement problems have arisen. In this case, it was the wrong type of ventilator.
The Shangrila 510s model ventilator is manufactured by the Chinese firm Aeonmed and is designed for use in ambulances rather than hospitals. Also noteworthy is the fact that the oxygen connection hose was also marked as “non-EU”, This means the oxygen connection is not compatible with oxygen connectors in the UK.
