HSE review unable to explain advance payments for ventilators

None of the 465 machines received from China was ever used in a clinical setting, after 41% of 100 machines received failed the HSE’s clinical engineering tests. Picture: AP/John Minchillo

A HSE internal review of the acquisition of ventilators from China at the beginning of the Covid pandemic was unable to establish why 2,755 machines were bought and paid for in advance, when the "identified need" was for just 235 ventilators.

The internal audit review, released to the Irish Examiner under freedom of information, found that, between regular supply lines and machines procured from China via 10 separate suppliers, some 2,755 ventilators were paid for in advance between February and April 2020.