The Federal Government has come under attack for going on social media to plead with United States billionaire, Elon Musk, for ventilators to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Musk, who is the founder and Chief Engineer, SpaceX, had tweeted on Thursday that his firm had extra ventilators that had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in America, The PUNCH reports.
He tweeted, “We have extra FDA-approved ventilators. We will ship to hospitals worldwide within Tesla delivery regions. Only requirement is that the vents are needed immediately for patients and not stored in a warehouse.”
In its response, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning tagged the billionaire on Twitter, asking him to assist Nigeria.
The ministry tweeted, “Dear @Elonmusk @Tesla Federal Government of Nigeria needs support with 100 to 500 ventilators to assist with Covid19 cases rising every day in Nigeria.”
According to the Nigerian Medical Association, Nigeria has about 500 ventilators nationwide, most of which are already in use.
The Federal Ministry of Health had, subsequently, denied the report.
Source: Punch Newspaper
