As the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) continues the process of procuring the necessary medical equipment, another consignment reached Islamabad International Airport on Monday, 24NewsHD reported.

The latest consignment was transported by PIA though a special flight which carried a total of 18 tonnes of items to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

NDMA Chairman Let-Gen Muhammad Afzal and Gen (retd) Nadeem Ahmed – the head of National Disaster and Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) – received the goods at the airport.

According to the NDMA spokesperson, the latest consignment comprise 159 ventilators, 15 X-ray machines, 200 thermal guns and medicines.

Meanwhile, different personal protective gear – 290,000 surgical masks, 15,000 protective suits, 30,000 pairs of gloves and 5,000 goggles were also among the items.

The NDMA had earlier announced that they would buy ventilators to tackle the shortage of most important machine for any ICU (intensive care unit) bed.

In this connection, 59 ventilators, although donated, had reached Pakistan earlier this month. That’s why Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has been warning about a total breakdown of healthcare system in case the number of patients increased at a higher rate.

The coronavirus patients in serious condition require ventilator for survival. Many deaths in Italy are reported to be caused by the shortage of ICU beds and thus ventilators as the number of cases spiked at a rate higher than what the system could sustain.

Germany, on the other hand, has managed to keep the death rate low because of higher availability of ventilators. It has 29.2 ICU beds for 100,000 citizens against 12.5 in Italy.

Although Germany already had a total of 28,000 beds but it planned to increase the number to 50,000, if required.

The availability of ventilators becomes even more important in the case of Europe because it has the highest ratio of elderly population in the world.

Meanwhile, experts in the US had been saying that 80 percent of those placed on ventilators were dying. But a recent report compiled by a healthcare system in New York State negated this notion. It found that the death ratio of those admitted in ICU was much lower and stood at 25 percent.

These findings show how important the ventilators are in saving the lives of those infected by coronavirus.