HSE won't say how much Chinese ventilator companies have repaid
The 'Irish Examiner' previously reported that the HSE was owed more than €35m in refunds for ventilator orders that were never fulfilled. Stock picture
The HSE has declined to say how much money two suppliers of Chinese ventilators, many of which never arrived, have repaid.
Two of the four legal disputes in which it was embroiled have apparently concluded but the executive is remaining tight-lipped on which ones are ongoing.
In response to a parliamentary question (PQ) from Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, the HSE said it is still “engaged in legal/dispute resolution processes with two suppliers in respect of 100 ventilators which were deemed unsuitable”.
In a report published last June, the HSE said it was involved in legal disputes with four suppliers of the ill-fated Chinese ventilators.
In September, speaking before the PAC, the HSE’s chief executive Paul Reid and chief financial officer Stephen Mulvany said between €11m and €12m was due to be recouped “imminently” from one of those disputes with a China-based supplier.
However, when contacted by the , the HSE would not confirm whether this money has been received or which of the four suppliers the payment related to. The executive also declined to say which of the four legal disputes are finished, and which are ongoing.
“The HSE has successfully recouped significant sums to date,” a spokesperson told the :
The HSE was asked specifically whether the €11.5m mentioned at September’s PAC meeting had been recouped. A response had not been received at the time of publication.
In Mr Tóibín’s PQ response, it was stated that “one product” which accounted for 4% of the total value of the first batch of PPE received from China had been “classified for alternative use”. The HSE was asked for clarity as to who the supplier in question was and what that stock had been repurposed for, but this was not directly answered.
At September’s meeting of the PAC, Mr Reid had asserted that the health service would “not be letting up” in its attempts to claim refunds on the €81m worth of Covid ventilators from China which were never used.
In advance of that hearing, the reported that the HSE was at that time still owed more than €35m in refunds for orders of ventilators from China. Just 465 of the 2,194 devices which were ordered at the time were received. The 465 ventilators were never used in Ireland.
Ten suppliers, with whom the HSE had no prior relationship, were used at the beginning of the pandemic as a source for additional ventilators from China.
