India scales up ventilator production to 50K in a year; produces them at 10% cost

Even as India grapples to deal with the second Coronavirus wave, the country has been working tirelessly to build up its 'self-reliance' capabilities in the field of health infrastructure. The nation became a success story last year after it turned into a world exporter of PPE a few months into the pandemic, scaling up its production from scratch to millions. 

A similar feat has been achieved by the country this year. In a big breakthrough, India has managed to produce a whopping 50,000 ventilators in a single year, as per government sources. This is particularly commendable for India which had only produced 16,000 ventilators from Independence to 2020. 

Indian produces 50K ventilators at 10% of the cost

The country which did not have a footing in ventilator production was faced with several challenges. Firstly, there were no Indian Standards for ventilators available. Additionally, they were not a regulated medical device in the country, neither under BIS certification nor under CDSCO regulation. Imported ventilators were not available in large quantities and domestic manufactures were only producing ventilators in small quantities.

Through the government's efforts, initiatives were taken to form a Committee of Technical Experts under DGHS which helped prescribe Minimum Essential Specifications for basic ventilators for COVID. Subject experts were roped in to find a solution amid the global health crisis. 

In March 2020, the Joint Monitoring Group under the DGHS estimated that the government had only 16,000 ventilators available with it in government facilities. 

In 2021, India was able to produce 58,850 'Make in India' ventilators, with over 50,000 ventilators funded by PM CARES. Under the PM CARES, the government was able to deliver as many as 40,252 ventilators and install up to 35,398 ventilators. Indian innovation in designing and manufacturing made in India ventilators at 10% of the cost, as per the government figures.

Ventilators allocated to states as per their demand

Another added task was the allocation of the ventilators to different states. Here a different set of challenges were faced by the government. Sufficient bio-medical service engineers were not available across many state hospitals. Connectors, were not available at various state hospitals and there were infrastructure issues that were causing ventilator malfunction due to Oxygen pressure drop. The biggest challenge was for the ventilators to be distributed in time to hospitals from the warehouse for commissioning. 

The Ventilators were provided by the Centre as per the demand of states without any questions asked. The Ministry also addressed requests for early installation for as many as 7 states namely-- Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha.  

More than a year into the pandemic, India now faces a new task-- to use its medical equipment, Oxygen, ventilators, and life-saving drugs judiciously. Even with adequate resources available, medical staff at a ground level need to be trained to operate the devices otherwise even with the availability of equipment, they would fail to save lives. 

To ensure this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now instructed that adequate staff be trained to man the ventilators, sources say. PM Modi took serious note of reports regarding ventilators lying unused in storage in some states and directed that an immediate audit be carried out for installation and operation of ventilators provided by the Centre. He has also directed that refresher training for properly operating ventilators should be provided to healthcare workers if necessary.