A plane load of emergency medical equipment that will be used in the fight against the Covid-19 virus here, has arrived in Ireland.
A number of Aer Lingus aircraft have already carried tonnes of personal protective equipment (PPE) on a series of flights from Beijing, China over the past week.
This afternoon, what’s understood to be the first major consignment of medical equipment, was flown from Guangzhou, China to Shannon via Qatar.
A Qatar Airways Boeing 777 freighter aircraft arrived in Shannon Airport from Doha shortly after 4.30pm with what’s believed to be a consignment of ventilators and hospital beds.
The hundreds of timber boxes, stacked on pallets and wrapped in protective plastic, were unloaded from the aircraft and taken to a nearby warehouse.
It was reported earlier this month that the HSE had plans to place an order for as many as 900 ventilators to help in the fight against the virus.
For patients worst affected by the Covid-19 virus, a ventilator offers the best chance of survival. A ventilator takes over the body’s breathing process when disease has caused the lungs to fail. The vital piece of equipment gives a patient time to fight off the infection and the best chance of recovery.
While sources confirmed that the consignment comprised ventilators and hospital beds, a comment is awaited from the HSE.
