Czech, Ireland and the US fly in life-saving devices to Bengaluru amid surge in COVID cases

BENGALURU: The Customs Cargo unit of Bengaluru airport on Wednesday once again accorded priority and cleared 74 ventilators and 218 respiratory devices sent by Czech Republic, Ireland, and the US to help India manage the COVID-19 crisis.

The life-saving items landed on the morning of April 28 and were cleared the same evening.

According to a senior Customs official, a total of 66 ventilators from Ireland valued at Rs 3.37 crore and 8 ventilators from the US valued at Rs 0.21 crore were cleared. A total of 218 respiratory devices including high purity regulators and mouthpieces from Czech Republic a totally valued at Rs 0.58 crore were also cleared.

“All the goods landed in the morning, the GST was paid by afternoon, and clearance is given by evening on priority, " the official said.

"In light of the emergency equipment arriving at the airport, the customs staff is working 24x7 to ensure speedy dispatch of the items to those in need of them," he added.

On April 26, it carried out the first clearance of 99 ventilators and five humidifiers from Sweden and Singapore by creating an internal green corridor.