A total of 150 AgVa Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ventilators sent by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Imphal on Thursday.

The life-saving equipment was formally received by Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh. The ICU ventilators were provided under Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund.

Speaking at the function, CM Biren Singh stated that these ventilators can be functional, both invasive and non-invasive, with an inbuilt battery backup of two hours. Also, 90 such ventilators provided earlier by the Centre are currently functional at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Imphal.

Apart from it, the Central Government had also provided 400 oxygen concentrators and 500 D-Type oxygen cylinders, he said and added that the state now has around 3,000 D-Type cylinders.

According to Singh, the state had also received two RT-PCR machines from UNICEF to scale up the COVID-19 testing and one each were given to JNIMS and RIMS.

To ensure adequate oxygen supply, the chief minister informed that oxygen generating plants would be opened in Thoubal and Churachandpur districts within 10-15 days. Stating that prevention is the only means to get rid of this dreaded pandemic, Singh said that the state government had started taking higher penalties against the SoP violators.