Russia suspends use of ventilator type after hospital fires: regulator

Russia has suspended the use of Russian-made medical ventilators of a certain model manufactured after April 1, a state healthcare regulator said on Wednesday, following two hospital fires reported to involve two such machines.

The Aventa-M medical ventilator was used at the Saint George’s Hospital in St Petersburg where five people died in a fire on Tuesday, and also in a hospital in Moscow where a fire killed one person on Saturday.

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Roszdravnadzor, the regulator, said on Tuesday it was checking the quality and safety of the ventilators in the two hospitals. (Reuters)