The head of the HSE has asked that the people try to remember the strain the health service was under in terms of procuring Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and medical equipment in February and March in the face of a controversy over unusable ventilators.
Responding to questioning on the subject at the HSE’s weekly media briefing in Dublin, Paul Reid said “cast your mind back” regarding “what was happening in the world, which was a worldwide chase for ventilators”.
“We were doubling our capacity to 1,000 ventilators. We were looking at suppliers across the world, and one single supplier wasn’t an option,” Mr Reid said.
He said that the €14.1 million contract given to media company Roqu for the supply of Chinese ventilators was being “followed back” on.
He said that Roqu had represented a “much smaller” number of the overall number of machines being brought into Ireland at the time.
“The full supply of ventilators didn’t pass total quality tests, the initial supply given to us did pass, but the full supply didn’t, and they haven’t been deployed, and we are in detailed discussions with Roqu regarding contractual obligations,” he said.
Mr Reid said he didn’t have the full details as to why the Roqu ventilators were not fit for purpose, but said there “is a very significant quality assurance standard for ventilators and medical supplies that it didn’t stand up to”.
