During the Covid pandemic, the Canadian government spent $700 million to buy more than 27,000 ventilators, though just 500 were ever used in Canadian hospitals. Now they are selling off the rest as scrap metal.
Canada’s brand new $169.5M ‘emergency’ ventilators sold as scrap for $6 a carton | Western Standard | Jen Hodgson:
April 13, 2024 - "The Trudeau Liberal government spent $169.5 million on a sole-sourced contract for emergency ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic, which are now being sold off as cheap scrap parts. Ventilator parts were sold for as little as $6 a carton out of a Concord, ON by GC Surplus — a government-owned ... Department of Public Works division [which] sells used government-issue goods from autos to filing cabinets, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. The 'Canadian Emergency Ventilators' were listed for auction as 'scrap metal.'
"Luke Halstead, a paramedic from Petawawa, ON, bought 50 of the disassembled units at a bargain of $6 a piece. They were still in their original factory wrapping. 'I bought 50. About half of them were in their original shipping crates with the Canadian Emergency Ventilators stencil on the box. They were brand new. They even had the original factory plastic wrapping'....
"The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) contracted the 'Canadian Emergency Ventilators' from a Toronto-based company called StarFish Medical....
"Public Works would not say how much it paid for the devices, though the House of Commons Ethics Committee in 2020 was told the $169.5 million contract was payment for 7,500 devices, the equivalent of $22,600 apiece....
"Halstead ... was told by warehouse workers they 'continued to receive these ventilators well into 2022.... The warehouse workers told me they were originally shipped as parts and that the Public Health Agency was supposed to assemble the units. It was obvious the crates had never been opened. These parts were heavy grade sheet metal still in the factory plastic wrap. They still had the original shipping labels'....
"In 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had initially praised the manufacturer as a Canadian success story. 'Canadian companies are answering the call,' Trudeau said, at the time. 'This is exactly the kind of innovative and collaborative thinking we need.'
Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/news/canadas-brand-new-1695m-emergency-ventilators-sold-as-scrap-for-6-a-carton/53658
Canadian ventilators sold for scrap metal: Report | Toronto Sun | Postmedia News:
April 22, 2024 - "Records show that the Public Health Agency auctioned off new ventilators, valued at just over $22,000 each, for $6 scrap, violating its own rules, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.... PHA directives forbids licensed medical devices to be sold as scrap metal.
“'They were sold for parts as the possible divestment option for unlicensed medical devices,' the agency said in a statement to Blacklock’s. 'The medical devices were no longer authorized.' But documents show the ventilators were sold as such as late as Feb. 8, 2023 while still licensed by the Department of Health. The ... licenses were revoked weeks later on March 22 after dozens of units were scrapped.
"StarFish Medical of Toronto was awarded a $169.5 million sole-sourced contract in 2020 to deliver up to 7,500 devices at $22,600 apiece. The devices were among $700 million worth of rush orders for ventilators placed by the Department of Public Works as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has declined comment...
"A total of 40,547 ventilators were ordered from various manufacturers but only 27,025 were delivered and only 500 ever used.... While most ventilators remained in federal warehouses, 839 were donated to hospitals in India, Pakistan and Nepal or sent to Ukraine as war surplus, according to a March 25 Inquiry Of Ministry, tabled in the Commons."
Read more: https://torontosun.com/news/national/canadian-ventilators-sold-for-scrap-metal-report
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