Nigeria has shown interest in getting at least 100 to 500 free ventilators from Elon Musk, a South African-born American entrepreneur and businessman.
Nigeria has shown interest in getting at least 100 to 500 free ventilators from Elon Musk, a South African-born American entrepreneur and businessman. Musk said his company Tesla is offering to pay for and ship the crucial medical component to hospitals around the world.
“We have extra FDA-approved ventilators. Will ship to hospitals worldwide within Tesla delivery regions. Device & shipping cost are free. Only requirement is that the vents are needed immediately for patients, not stored in a warehouse,” Musk tweeted.
Nigeria’s finance ministry, in a response to the tweet, tweeted for the support of the businessman requesting for the free ventilators.
“Dear @elonmusk @Tesla Federal Government of Nigeria needs support with 100-500 ventilators to assist with #Covid19 cases arising every day in Nigeria,” Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning tweeted.
It is not clear if the tweet was officially sanctioned. Presently, Nigeria does not have any critical case of coronavirus that might need ventilators immediately as that is the condition at which the business is giving out the vents.
Nigerian automobile maker, Innoson had offered to use its manufacturing plants to mass produce the item but the federal government is yet to revert to him.
While some Nigerians have berated the government for begging for such “giveaway” openly, others believe the government is doing the right thing, giving that they are very scarce due to the pandemic.
Nigeria is reported to have at least, 169 ventilators in 16 states. The number of the equipment in Lagos and Abuja is not known. The Nigerian government had several times turned down journalist requests to know the number of ventilators the country has.
