"Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, senior member of the committee... sent letters to Safeguard Medical and AutoMedx demanding documents regarding the purchase of the SAVe II and SAVe II+ ventilators following reports that the Trump Administration potentially wasted $70 million in taxpayer funding," the release said.
By April 2020, the federal government had secured the purchase of 200,000 ventilators. One of those contracts was for the purchase by the Department of Defense of SAVe II ventilators, manufactured by AutoMedx, from the supplier Combat Medical Systems for $16.2 million, the committee said.
US health officials concluded that the SAVe II ventilator model was inadequate to treat coronavirus patients, the letter said.
The companies claimed that the SAVe II underwent performance modifications, including increased volume rate and air pressure, to create the SAVe II+. However, reports indicated that the supposed improvements did not make the SAVe II+ a viable option for treating coronavirus patients, the committee said.