US thanks Bangladesh for speedy PPE delivery in early stages of pandemic

The US has expressed gratitude to the people of Bangladesh and the private sector for quickly delivering Personal Protective Equipment for US medical professionals in the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We owe a word of gratitude to the people of Bangladesh and to their private sector for having moved so quickly to advance this," said US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun at a telephonic press conference on Tuesday night, following last week's visit to Bangladesh.

He said during his stay in Bangladesh, he had a chance to discuss a number of important opportunities in the relationship, including close cooperation on Covid-19.

"It's a little-known fact, but I had the chance to thank the Bangladeshi Government for their tremendous efforts to ramp up production of personal protection equipment and deliver that to the United States during the early stages of this pandemic before we ourselves really could get our feet underneath ourselves to produce this kind of important protective equipment for our medical professionals," Biegun said.

Beximco Group, a Bangladeshi corporate giant, exported several million PPE gowns to the USA. With that, Bangladesh joined a select group of countries that manufacture world-class, large-scale PPE for US brand Hanes for eventual delivery to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Biegun said during his visit here last week he delivered two gas analysers -- a crucial tool for calibrating ventilators -- as well as a shipment of ventilators that arrived over the weekend, in order to provide additional lifesaving equipment to the Bangladeshi medical community.

It was not just for Covid-19 but also for many other illnesses that would necessitate Bangladeshi citizens to be put on ventilator support.