The controversy broke out 24 hours after the prime minister's interview with TVI, focused on the Covid-19 outbreak in Portugal, in the course of which he revealed that the Portuguese state paid about 9,2 million euros to China to acquire 500 fans. Several publications appeared on social networks claiming that this value would be much higher than the normal market value.
“In Portugal the fans are sold between 2.500 euros and 3.500 euros plus VAT and already with transport and import costs. António Costa told TVI that Portugal bought 500 fans for 10 million dollars, that is, each one is for 20.000 euros, what is this deal? Who were they bought from? What vicars! Even in these times they don't stop robbing the Portuguese”, says one of the most shared publications.
Truth or lie?
First of all, it is important to emphasize that the author of the publication did not know how to use the calculator, because each fan did not cost 20 thousand euros. If the 500 fans cost 10 million dollars, or 9,2 million euros, each device cost about 18.400 euros.
Secondly, it is necessary to check whether, in fact, there are ventilation machines on the market costing the alleged €3.500. The answer is yes, but the ventilators at this price are those used to transport patients from one point to another and never suitable machines for a patient in need of intensive care, as is the case for patients who only survive with breathing artificial for having contracted Covid-19.
Poligrafo contacted Dräger, one of the companies that sell fans in Portugal and which, despite not wanting to go into details, guaranteed that 3.500 euros for an intensive care ventilation device “is a perfectly unreal value, you can't buy it for that price ”.
We also questioned Augustinho Santos, an engineer at Iberdata, another company that sells hospital products in Portugal, who warned that prices for this type of equipment are not fixed and depend on accessories, the purpose of use and even the brand itself. “This is how we compare the performance of cars”, he stresses.
In this sense, Augustinho Santos, a specialist in intensive care and anesthesia equipment, says that "there are more sophisticated ventilators that cost 20 thousand euros", but a ventilator that can be useful in a situation of "intensive care is around 12 , 13 thousand euros, to respond to all situations”. However, it should be noted that these prices do not include VAT. However, adding a VAT rate of 13% to a value of 23 thousand euros (it may vary depending on the purpose for which it is purchased), the total price is close to 16 thousand euros.
It is true that the price is lower than what the State paid when buying from China, but the details of the deal are not known and whether, for example, there were transport costs and what their value was. The engineer from Iberdata warns that the pandemic, that is, the high demand for these devices, at this time, could lead to a rise in the price of the equipment, so “20 euros is a fair price, an acceptable number”.
An intensive care nurse at a hospital in Lisbon also assured the Polygraph that the price paid by the State “is not scandalous”, since, for example, each of the machines she works with in the hospital unit had a cost of around 17 thousand euros.
In conclusion, it is false that the state can buy fixed ventilators for intensive care patients for just 3.500 euros.
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Editorial note: This content was selected by Poligrafo as part of a fact-checking partnership with Facebook, aimed at evaluating the veracity of the information circulating on this social network.
On Facebook's rating scale, this content is:
False: the main content claims are factually inaccurate; generally, this option matches the “False” or “Mostly False” ratings on fact-checking sites.
On the Polygraph rating scale, this content is:
Editorial Note of Sul Informação: This fact-check was originally published in Poligrafo on March 26, at 9:00 pm and can be read here.
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