The first ventilators were handed over in several southern localities over the last two days. — Photo courtesy of VPBank

HÀ NỘI — VPBank will spend VNĐ150 billion (US$6.5 million) to buy 715 ventilators for HCM City and several southern provinces. 

Following approval from the Ministry of Health (MoH), 215 high-functioning invasive and non-invasive ventilators and 500 high-flow oxygen humidification systems will be handed over to the MoH from now until July 30.

A rapid increase of cases of COVID-19 in HCM City and the southern provinces, has led to a shortage of medical equipment, particularly ventilators.

All of the modern ventilators are carefully checked before being handed over to the hospitals. — Photo courtesy of VPBank

VPBank in co-operation with the MoH transported 10 ventilators to the COVID-19 Resuscitation Hospital, 20 high-functioning invasive and non-invasive ventilators to Chợ Rẫy Hospital in HCM City, and one ventilator to Hậu Nghĩa General Hospital in Long An Province earlier this week.

The remaining ventilators and oxygen humidification systems will be handed over to the ministry no later than the end of this month.

A VPBank representative has said that although the bank's contributions to the prevention of the COVID-19 are still very small compared to the contributions of medical staff and the police on the front lines, all contributions are still very valuable.

“We believe that with the direction of the Government and local authorities, together with the cooperation of people and businesses across the country, HCM City and the southern provinces will have more resources in the fight against COVID-19. This would help quickly control and repel the pandemic to stabilise socio-economic development,” he added.

Earlier, VPBank had a series of meaningful and practical activities to support the fight of COVID-19 such as a VNĐ60 billion donation to the vaccine fund, providing financial support and other medical equipment. VPBank and Viet Nam Young Physicians Association (VYPA) brought mobile COVID-19 testing container trucks to support HCM City and Binh Duong Province to speed up sampling of COVID-19 screening results in the context of an increasingly widespread pandemic.

It is estimated VPBank has contributed a total of VNĐ250 billion in cash and equipment to the prevention of COVID-19 so far. — VNS