Tajikistan has purchase 27 ventilators in Germany and the will be delivered to the country soon, an official source at the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MoHSPP) told Asia-Plus in interview.
According to him, an agreement on buying ventilators has been concluded between Tajikistan’s Sifat-Pharma and Germany’s Löwenstein Medical Technology GmbH.
“The ventilators will be delivered to the country when the opportunity presents itself. It is still difficult to do this the air links are still closed due to the coronavirus pandemic,” the source said.
“Besides, other medical supplies, including medical protective overalls, face masks, syringes and others, will be delivered to the country,” the source said, noting that they now have enough stocks drugs.
What is a ventilator and what does it do? Simply put, a ventilator takes over the body's breathing process when disease has caused the lungs to fail. This gives the patient time to fight off the infection and recover.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 80% of people with Covid-19 – the disease caused by coronavirus – recover without needing hospital treatment.
But one person in six becomes seriously ill and can develop breathing difficulties.
In these severe cases, the virus causes damage to the lungs. The body's immune system detects this and expands blood vessels so more immune cells enter.
But this can cause fluid to enter the lungs, making it harder to breathe, and causing the body's oxygen levels to drop.
To alleviate this, a machine ventilator is used to push air, with increased levels of oxygen, into the lungs.
Patients are given medication to relax the respiratory muscles so their breathing can be fully regulated by the machine.
