Ventilators are life-saving machines that keep patients breathing when they no longer can on their own.
Musk said his company Tesla is offering to pay for and ship the crucial medical component to hospitals around the world.
“We have extra FDA-approved ventilators. Will ship to hospitals worldwide within Tesla delivery regions. Device & shipping cost are free,” Musk tweeted.
“Only requirement is that the vents are needed immediately for patients, not stored in a warehouse,” he said.
Nigeria’s finance ministry, in a response to the tweet, tweeted for the support of the businessman requesting for the free ventilators.
“Dear @elonmusk @Tesla Federal Government of Nigeria needs support with 100-500 ventilators to assist with #Covid19 cases arising every day in Nigeria,” Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning tweeted.
It is not clear if the tweet was officially sanctioned.
It is unclear if Nigeria has any critical case of coronavirus that might need ventilators immediately as that is the condition at which the business is giving out the vents.
The Nigerian government had several times turned down journalist requests to know the number of ventilators the country has.
Critics berated the government for begging for such “giveaway” openly, while some others said the government is “very much in order” citing that ventilators are very scarce due to the pandemic.
Daily Trust reported that Nigeria has, at least, 169 ventilators in 16 states. The number of the equipment in Lagos and Abuja is not known.
Many of the countries are battling acute shortage of ventilators and have even turned to donors and enacted laws to compel some companies to manufacture them.
This reflected in the number of seld-identified doctors and public officials from other countries that requested for the free ventilators from Elon Musk. These countries include Spain, Argentina, Ukraine, Ecuador, Honduras and several others.
“Dear Elon,Ukraine🇺🇦 is the second largest country in Europe with population nearly 40 mln citizens. The pandemic situation in Ukraine is approaching its peak, April is going to be the hardest. People in hospitals need ventilators. We are ready to cooperate! Dyakuyemo” the official Twitter handle of Ukrainian embassy in the United States said in a reply to Musk’s tweet.
According to a report by World Economic Forum, ventilators can cost $30,000 but a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is working on an open-source, low-cost ventilator design that can be made using just $100 worth of parts.
Some of Tesla’s purchased ventilators are already in New York City at the Elmhurst Hospital in Queens.
The Queens hospital where Tesla shipped ventilators became a flashpoint after a video shot by a doctor within the hospital was widely shared. In the video, the doctor said, “We don’t have the tools that we need.” New York City has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with more 43,000 confirmed cases and over 1,000 deaths as of April 1.
Here are some comments gathered by DAILY POST from Twitter:
@AdeyanjuAdedeji “Heartlessly corrupt government openly begging Elon Musk for ventilators. How much are ventilators that we can’t buy but they can re-loot Abacha loot & share money for Vote Buying. Cursed is the day Buhari was voted president.
“1 ventilator is around $10,000 =N3.5m,500 ventilators that the corrupt government is begging Elon Musk for will just be N1.7b. They lied they shared N5bn to their so-called poor people just yesterday. Hopeless and heartless government.”
@Zaddy_Nomso “If we use the $500M that the Govt wants to use to make NTA better than CNN we won’t be begging Elon Musk for Ventilators after all NTA can wait, we will be watching Channels for now.”
@Ogbenidipo “The Nigerian government is openly begging Elon Musk for help. I am so embarrassed.”
@Islimfit “More than 10 Billion Naira has been donated by corporates and HNIs in Nigeria to combat Covid-19, but the Ministry of Finance and Budget has reduced itself into Bambiala Twitter to beg Tesla owner Elon Musk for equipment. This country does not deserve me, I swear.”
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@Adadioranma “Please let the federal government participate in Elon Musk and Tesla’s ventilator giveaway. It’s for our good. The abrupt increase in demand plus the lockdowns have created a shortage of ventilators globally. Wealthy countries like the US & UK are also feeling the effects of scarcity.”
@Drpenking “A unit of ventilator costs 1.8 Million Naira only. Total donations is more than 50 Billion so far, yet the Ministry of Finance is dropping account numbers under Elon Musk ‘s Giveaway tweet. Please where are all the donated money going?
@Seyi_ “A country that budgeted 37B for NASS renovation shouldn’t be asking Elon Musk for ventilators on social media.”
@Abolajiadeouye “Dear Elon Musk, each minister, governor, senator and HOR Member earn monthly enough money to buy three ventilators. To donate to this same govt that’s been reaping off its masses would make you an accomplice of their corruption. Ignore their shameless plea sir.”
@Drolufunmilayo ” Nigeria went to drop account number under Elon Musk page for giveaway. This is shameful. After raising over 7billion in donations,they are still looking for Tesla giveaway.I love this government. Sinzu money.”
@Fkabudu “Are we saying there is NO other way they could have reached Elon Musk or Tesla? Plus our supposed Covid fund has so many billions that I have lost count. They can make the order. Let’s call a thing a thing.”
@Demola reaju “It’s an embarrassment. There are Nigerians that can contact Elon Musk and procure ventilators for Nigeria, armies only with an official letterhead from the FG. A Nigerian sits on the board of Gavi, the largest public-private health partnership in the world, to contact her.”
@Aishayesufu “The same Nigeria that is begging Elon Musk is the same Nigeria that has been harassing and killing young tech people in Nigeria. They bullied everyone with a laptop and did everything to kill their dreams. They refused to heed to citizens shouting.”
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