The US Navy has allegedly seized a ship that was en route to Iran, carrying zeolite needed for manufacturing oxygen concentrators for coronavirus-infected patients, the Islamic republic’s semi-official news agency reported.
According to the Fars News Agency, the US warships seized the ship near the Chinese port of Qingdao on Wednesday morning.
Dhaka Tribune has not verified the agency reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy.
“Only one imported part is used for production of oxygen concentrators, which is zeolite, and we are forced to purchase it from France and import it to the country through several intermediators,” Peyman Bakhshandeh-Nejad, the CEO of Zist Tajhiz Danesh Pouya company in Iran, told the Fars News Agency.
He said that the ship’s cargo could lead to the production of 4,000 to 5,000 oxygen concentrator systems to be used by the patients.
Bakhshandeh-Nejad dismissed claims that the US sanctions do not leave impacts on Iran’s medical and health sectors.
An oxygen concentrator is a device that concentrates the oxygen from a gas supply (typically ambient air) by selectively removing nitrogen to supply an oxygen-enriched product gas stream.
A pioneering knowledge-based company in Iran had also in April produced a special oxygen concentrator system which can be used by the coronavirus patients at home.
“Oxygen concentrator is the knowledge-based product of the company. When the lungs are not powerful enough to pump the necessary oxygen into the blood, the system can increase the purity of the lungs’ oxygen,” Ali Ebrahimi, the CEO of the company, said.
He added that the system has been manufactured in three home, central and portable versions.
Ebrahimi said that one of the most important applications of oxygen concentrator systems is for coronavirus patients who can use it at home without any need to visiting hospital.
