By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump is to announce a loan program on Tuesday with the aim of making as many as 60,000 ventilators available to help coronavirus patients, a senior administration official said.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, the need for ventilators has skyrocketed to aid patients struggling to breathe. Trump and his coronavirus task force have fought to find enough of the machines to help people survive.
Trump plans to meet healthcare executives later on Tuesday where he will announce the Dynamic Ventilator Reserve plan.
It is a public-private partnership in which major healthcare systems will agree to supply unused ventilators to make sure there is a steady supply of the machines in virus hot spots, the official said.
“President Trump worked with governors to make sure that every American who needed a ventilator received a ventilator, and this historic public-private program ensures that will continue to be the case,” said White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, one of the architects of the plan.
The White House found that as many as 60,000 ventilators in hospitals across the country were not being used and contacted the American Hospital Association and major healthcare suppliers to come up with a lending program “so that those that are not in use can be moved over to hospitals when they need them,” the official said.
In order to gain access to the supply, a healthcare provider must agree to donate ventilators when a hospital in a hot zone needs them, the official said.
The official said 20 health systems have already agreed to participate and under the program at this point 4,000 ventilators will be made available.
Representatives from the American Hospital Association and a variety of healthcare company chief executives are to be on hand for the White House event.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
