The U.S. has said it will not use the Russian ventilators sent to it by Moscow while an investigation is carried out into their safety, following a deadly hospital fire in St. Petersburg, according to an article on the CNBC website.
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said it would not start using the Aventa-M ventilators after they were cited as the possible cause of a fire in the St. George Hospital, in St. Petersburg, that killed five patients with Covid-19.
The victims were in an intensive care unit and on ventilators at the time of the incident. Sources at the hospital were reported as saying that the fire could have been caused by one of the these ventilators short-circuiting.
FEMA confirmed that the same model of ventilator had been sent to the U.S. from Russia in early April, during a scramble for medical equipment.