The state of New York is sitting on top of a massive surplus of medical equipment purchased during the COVID-19 pandemic, including over 1,000 excess x-ray machines, according to an article in Politico.
The state acquired 8,555 ventilators at a cost of $166 million and 1,179 x-ray machines for $86.4 million in March 2020 in response to an anticipated spike in COVID-19 cases, state officials recently told the news outlet.
Yet the state Department of Health recently confirmed that New York never even fully allocated the medical equipment it had on hand before the pandemic or the machines it received from the federal government, let alone dispersed the equipment it bought in the subsequent weeks and months, according to the article.
Today, the equipment is stacked in warehouses across New York, with National Guard officers managing the stockpile and no plans in place to distribute them or put them to any immediate use. For now, New York agencies said they will keep the machines for possible future use, Politico reported.
The stockpile is the latest example of equipment left behind after states spent millions on equipment to help manage the COVID-19 pandemic.
