Published May 29, 2024 • Last updated May 29, 2024 • 1 minute read
Access-to-information documents show that new COVID ventilators bought by Ottawa at $22,000 apiece were sold as scrap to “further understand” the recycling business, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
“There was one negotiated sale of four ventilator samples with conditions to recycling organizations for the purposes of industry engagement in efforts to further understand constraints and considerations of recycling,” said the Department of Public Works in a statement.
The ventilators, which were sold for $21.39 each as scrap, were bought under a sole-sourced, $169.5-million contract with StarFish Medical.
Other ventilators were sold for as little as $6.
Access-to-information records show StarFish devices were scrapped as early as Aug. 24, 2022, and “sold for parts” in Langley, B.C., according to an auction notice that day.
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The World Health Organization declared an end to the pandemic on May 5, 2023.
Neither StarFish Medical nor the Public Health Agency of Canada, which bought the devices, has commented on the scrap sales.
The Commons ethics committee in 2020 was told StarFish was awarded a $169.5-million contract for 7,500 devices, which amounted to $22,600 apiece.
The Department of Public Works said on April 5 that only $15.8 million was paid for delivery of an unspecified number of ventilators.
“To protect commercial confidentiality, we do not disclose the unit price,” a spokesperson said.
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Posted on June 8, 2024
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