Russia withdraws unreliable ventilator model

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 17 May 2020 by Alex Teddy

---

Moscow has decided to ban Aventa M ventilators made since April 1 by Ural Instrument Engineering Plant (UPZ) in Yekaterinaburg. Rostec the state holding owns the plant and is under sanctions from the US over other issues. The Aventa Ms which were manufactured before April 1 2020 are still allowed. This model probably caused fires in two hospitals. On May 13 Roszdravnadzor (the Russian health regulator) said these models are now unfit for use. Numerous doctors have castigated the Aventa M.Russia hugely speeded up the production of ventilators in March. This was sensible but the haste to produce them possibly led to these faults. Doctors are relieved that the recently built Aventa M ventilators have been banned because otherwise doctors themselves may have been blamed for fires breaking out. 45 Aventa M models were among the ventilators that Russia sent to the US in April. Russian doctors complain that the Aventa M has to be monitored around the clock. UPZ received a contract worth USD 100 million on April 15 to build 6 700 ventilators. Most of these were Aventa M models. The government at first boasted that production had increased tenfold. UPZ hired more workers and rushed them through training. Russia also has foreign made ventilators but they tend to be expensive and other countries needed all their ventilators for themselves. The US has not used the Aventa M ventilators. Medical staff are being pushed to the limit treating a disease they have never seen before with equipment that they have not been properly trained with. 170 doctors and nurses have died of COVID-19. Russia now has the second most coronavirus cases in the world - albeit on huge volumes of antigen tes...