Fundación MAPFRE is supporting the delivery of ventilators to Manaus  

An innovative type of ventilator, developed by the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo with the support of Fundación MAPFRE, will now help the population of Manaus, capital of the state of Amazonas in Brazil, to tackle COVID-19. The city’s health system has reached a particularly critical moment, finding itself in desperate need of oxygen and with its hospitals saturated.

The first INSPIRE lung ventilators were sent to Manaus at the end of last week and a new shipment in progress will complete the first batch of 40 units destined for five hospitals in the city.

This artificial ventilator model was developed in the first months of the pandemic by a group of 40 researchers and is 15 times cheaper than conventional equipment.

Fundación MAPFRE has contributed more than 230,000 euros (1.5 million Brazilian reais) to this cause, to produce a thousand pieces of equipment, including the procurement of supplies and components, quality instruments, tests and trials. Currently, INSPIRE ventilators are used to treat COVID-19 patients in several states (São Paulo, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso do Sul and Amazonas) in Brazil, one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic in the world.

From the outset, Fundación MAPFRE’s priority has been to support and protect the most vulnerable, those most at risk in society and those fighting the disease on the front line throughout the world. To this end, it approved an aid plan of 35 million euros. In Brazil, the allocated funds have enabled, among other actions, basic food baskets to be purchased for people with low incomes or who are unemployed, diagnostic tests to be carried out, and healthcare equipment and beds to be acquired in different parts of the country.