Country needs at least 2,000 ventilators to save lives, says Ranil 

The United National Party (UNP) Leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday said the Government should take steps to have at least 2,000 ventilators as standby to save the lives of patients who would fall victim to the current strains of the coronavirus in the future.

The former Premier made this comment during a discussion held with senior members of the party via Zoom.

Wickremasinghe said that the need for ventilators, which was even included in the 2019 UNP policy statement, was reiterated at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic He also said that if the Government had taken into consideration the facts pointed out by him at that time and started the production of ventilators, it would have been possible to save the lives that are being lost now.

The UNP Leader said in Kerala, India, where there is a population similar to Sri Lanka, they had somehow collected 5,000 ventilators. He said that under the prevailing circumstances, Sri Lanka will need at least 2,000 ventilators. He said further that if there was a possibility, this figure should be increased up to even 3,000. The Government, he said, should act to even purchase a small number of ventilators from China where they manufacture the most number of such equipment, and if they fail to do so, he pointed out that the hospital system will face a serious collapse by October.