Lifesaving ventilator fell into a global shortage. In just ten days, China has urgently provided more than 1,700 invasive ventilators abroad …
Ventilator of all countries in the world is urgent
With the outbreak of the global epidemic, life-saving ventilators have also been seriously out of stock. According to the statistics of Johns Hopkins University in the United States, as of 8:00 on March 30, Beijing time, the number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia has exceeded 720,000 cases, reaching 720,117 cases. The British "Guardian" quoted US President Trump's statement at a press conference on the 27th as saying that he called to console Johnson. Trump said when he asked Johnson how he felt, "The first sentence Boris and I said was-'We need a ventilator'."
According to a Reuters report on March 30, with the spread of the new coronavirus, there is a shortage of ventilators throughout the United States. Trump said: "We have some medical workers, some hospitals … hoarding equipment including ventilators." "We must release those ventilators, especially those hospitals that will never use them."
In addition, according to Reuters, Andreas Wieland, CEO of Hamilton Medical, the world ’s largest manufacturer of ventilators, said, "There is a gap between available ventilator and demand. "Huge difference", Italy may have less than a quarter of the ventilator to help patients.
Cross-border enterprise produces ventilator
Due to the urgent need for ventilators in various countries, many "cross-border" enterprises have come in succession, and Tesla, General Motors, Ferrari, and Dyson have come to the rescue. US President Trump approved Tesla, Ford, and General Motors to produce ventilators, and urged these auto companies to speed up to help solve this problem. On March 20, GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement: "We are working closely with medical equipment manufacturer Ventec to rapidly expand the production of ventilators to support our country's fight against the epidemic." GM said Total investment in factories in six states will be $ 1.8 billion. Reuters reported on March 20 that Italian luxury car brand Ferrari and its parent company are also cooperating with Siare Engineering, the country's largest ventilator manufacturer, to discuss the feasibility of car manufacturers switching to ventilators. A spokesperson for the Ferrari parent company said that there are currently two main options. One is to help Siare engineers increase plant capacity with the support of technical personnel provided by Ferrari. The other is to outsource the production of respirator parts to car manufacturers. It is understood that the Italian government requires Siare to increase the production of ventilator from 160 to 500 per month. The British government has also invited manufacturers such as Rolls Royce and Dyson to produce ventilators. In the face of the spread of the global epidemic, many companies have joined the cross-border production of ventilators in order to ease the treatment needs of various countries.
China Ventilator has signed an order for about 20,000 units
On the morning of March 30, at the press conference of the Joint Defense and Joint Control Mechanism of the State Council, Xu Kemin, Director of the Industrial Policy and Regulation Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the epidemic is spreading rapidly around the world, and the demand for medical equipment abroad is also increasing rapidly, especially The demand for invasive ventilators is particularly high. He introduced that there are currently 21 invasive ventilator manufacturing enterprises in China, of which 8 major products have obtained the EU mandatory CE certification, accounting for about one-fifth of the global production capacity, and has signed orders for about 20,000 units. At the same time, a large number of international intent orders are being negotiated every day. Xu Kemin said that Chinese companies have been working nonstop and working overtime for the global epidemic prevention and control. Most enterprises are working in shifts and working non-stop, and even some R & D personnel are sent to production lines. As of March 29, China's major ventilator companies have cumulatively supplied more than 27,000 units. Among them, there are more than 3000 invasive ventilators. According to incomplete statistics, in just ten days since March 19, while ensuring domestic demand, Chinese companies have urgently provided more than 1,700 invasive ventilators abroad, which has reached half of the total domestic supply this year.
Regarding the supply of ventilators, Xu Kemin also pointed out that a ventilator has thousands of parts. The main parts suppliers are not only domestic, but also some abroad including Europe. Under the influence of the epidemic, it is not easy to increase production on a large scale, and it is unrealistic to meet all needs.
He revealed that in order to continue to provide timely assistance to the relevant countries in a timely manner, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a video conference on coordinated expansion of the key medical equipment industry chain on March 29, organized key domestic invasive ventilator enterprises, local relevant departments, and found that the enterprises faced Problems and difficulties, and study measures for coordinated expansion of the industrial chain. At the same time, enterprises are required to strictly control quality and strengthen production safety.
It is understood that the orders of some large domestic factories have already been scheduled to June and July, and the orders of small factories are also very tight. Mindray's board secretary Li Wenmei said in an interview with Bloomberg recently: "Demand is several times the order we can accept. The order is several times our current production capacity. Now our production capacity is several times the previous." She revealed that Mindray It will produce 3,000 ventilators per month, and is now trying to postpone the delivery of orders to domestic customers in order to first ship the product to more urgent overseas buyers. Patient monitors that track vital signs when patients are in critical condition have also nearly tripled since last year. Because of the production of these devices, some factories have entered a state of 7 × 24 hours of production.