SA to produce 20 000 ventilators by August
In April, government launched a National Ventilator Project aimed at building more local machines since there is a shortage of ventilators from the rest of the world.
AS countries across the globe scramble to source much-needed ventilators to treat Covid-19 patients, government is ramping up the production of the critical equipment.
Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said the country would be speeding up production of ventilators. Government is hoping to produce a targeted 20 000 ventilators by August.
“Ventilators are a way of getting oxygen to the lungs at a time someone is infected by coronavirus and have is difficulty breathing,” he explained.
In April, government launched a National Ventilator Project aimed at building more local machines since there is a shortage of ventilators from the rest of the world.
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“But everybody was chasing the same product, so wherever the factories were making these products elsewhere, the others were immediately snapped up and we couldn’t get enough ventilators into South Africa.”
The country last produced ventilators almost two decades ago, he said.
“When the pandemic hit us, we had no local manufacturing capability.”
After making the public call for innovators to come up with ideas, the project came to life. The country has now produced prototype ventilators.
“We’re now working on getting three prototypes finalised and after that, production will start in June and the first units we hope will come off the production line during June. This will be critical additional stock… while we’re also trying to find ventilators from the rest of the world,” he said.
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