US will send ventilators, PM Modi thanks Trump
nNEW DELHI/WASHINGTON: The United States will airlift 200 mobile ventilators to help Indians combat Covid-19, people familiar with the developments said on Saturday, hours after US president Donald Trump made the announcement on Twitter.
Trump also said the two countries were cooperating to develop a vaccine for the disease that has claimed more than 310,000 lives globally and infected 4.6 million people.
“We stand with India and @narendramodi during this pandemic. We’re also cooperating on vaccine development. Together we will beat the invisible enemy!” Trump tweeted.
Trump reiterated the point at his press conference later, referring to his India visit in February, the role played by Indian expatriates in the US and describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “good friend of mine”.
“We are working closely with India,” he told reporters.
Modi thanked him in a tweet and highlighted the India-us relationship. “In such times, it’s always important for nations to work together and do as much as possible to make our world healthier and free from Covid-19,” he said.
Trump did not mention details of the ventilators but a senior Indian government official said the consignment may “arrive by the end of this month or latest, early June”.
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.
The US move comes weeks after Modi acted on Trump’s request to reverse a ban on the export of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that was championed by the US President as a “game changer” in the fight against Covid-19.
Trump has often said the United States is the “king” of ventilators — a respiratory aid needed for severely ill hospitalized Covid-19 patients — as a result of an extraordinary push from his administration in response to early fears of an impending shortage. He has since said the United States has more ventilators than its needs and it will be willing to share them with allies and partners.
In a separate tweet hours later, the president’s National Security Council followed up with a fullbore acknowledgement of the vaccine projects. “The US and India are working together to fight #COVID19 and find a vaccine,” it said, adding, “the Us-india Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership has never been stronger.” There was no mention of the ventilators.
Three vaccine candidates are in various stages of development in separate bilateral projects involving two of India’s leading pharmaceutical companies with robust portfolios of vaccines. Their US counterparts are research units of two universities and the third is a biotechnology company.
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.
It also comes against the backdrop of growing congruence of views between the two countries on accountability and transparency on the origin of the coronavirus, reforms in the World Health Organisation (WHO) and even strategic issues such as terrorism and the situation in the Indo Pacific.
For weeks, Trump has criticised the WHO for allegedly allowing itself to be led by China’s assessment of the virus when the disease was detected in central China’s Wuhan city last year. There have also been allegations from Washington that the Sarscov-2 virus may not be natural and may have been created in a laboratory.
That the two sides are on the same page on China and WHO also came across at a seven-nation video conference initiated by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. There was broad agreement on the need to stress on transparency and accountability for the spread of the disease. The emphasis on transparency and accountability at this meeting attended by Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is seen to be aimed at China and the WHO that is due to hold its annual meet on Monday.