PM asks ministries to ramp up medical gear production
NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the central government ministries to look for innovative ways of using their resources for manufacturing medical equipment and scaling up their production to deal with the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, according to officials aware of the matter.
Using state-owned facilities and production units for boosting the manufacturing of the equipment and setting up quarantine facilities were discussed at the Cabinet meeting Modi chaired on
Wednesday.
“There is a plan of using a vast pool of non-ac coaches for setting up the isolation wards... about 20,000 such coaches have been identified for the same. The railways has begun production of masks, sanitizers and other supplies,” a ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
Officials said the railways has also been tasked with using its large manufacturing, locomotive production units and workshops for the production of essential medical equipment like ventilators, hospital beds, and stretchers. They added the Railway Board has asked its production units and workshops to assess the feasibility of manufacturing these items in large quantities at a short notice.
Ministries like defence and heavy industries and public enterprises have also been asked to utilise their resources for ramping up production of medical gear.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation is exploring collaborations with private companies for the production of ventilators while the Ordnance Factory Board, too, has been tasked with the production of medical supply. The Bharat Electronics Limited has also been engaged for the manufacturing of ventilators.
The heavy industries’ ministry has also reached out to automobile manufacturers for utilising their manufacturing facilities for the production of ventilators.
“We are working on an automated version of the Bag Valve Mask ventilator . We hope to have a proto ready in three days for approval. Once approved, this design will be made available to all for manufacturing,” said car manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra’s managing director, Pawan Goenka.
India has an estimated 40,000 working ventilators, which experts say will be inadequate in case there is a surge in infections that sends patients to ICUS with acute breathing problems in approximately 5% of the cases.
The coronavirus attacks people’s lungs, in some cases compromising their ability to breathe as they develop pneumonia. Ventilators, which deliver air to the lungs through a tube placed in the windpipe, are crucial to keeping these patients alive. Officials said the textile ministry has also pointed to a shortage of body coveralls and N-95 masks for healthcare staff and set up an emergency control room to monitor their production and supply.