The ventilator industry is getting a burst of desperate orders from China and Italy. The U.S. hasn't
I said yesterday --when Trump told the Governors to call the industry themselves--that NO, we need a coordinated effort from the Fed Task Force. If we don't -each state will be in competition with each other state. Winners and losers--whoever can make the best deal--whoever can dish out the most money. Chaos and deaths will come.
Editors' Pick|121,446 views|Mar 14, 2020,03:06pm EST
Ventilator Maker: We Can Ramp Up Production Five-Fold
https://www.forbes.com/sites/baldwin/2020/03/14/ventilator-maker-we-can-ramp-up-production-five-fold/#775d8e675e9a
William BaldwinSenior Contributor
The U.S. could be on a crash course of increasing ICU capacity—if it had the will.
Patient monitor
Ventilator screen in German hospital Martijaan Murat (Getty Images)
The German government just placed an order for 10,000 mechanical ventilators. What’s the U.S. government doing about a potential shortage here? Not much, it seems. President Trump alluded to the matter in a press conference but did not spell out any plans.
Ventilators pump oxygen into the lungs of a failing Covid-19 patient. U.S. hospitals have something like 62,000 up-to-date machines immediately available, plus another 99,000 obsolete units that could be pulled out of storage in an emergency, says the Society of Critical Care Medicine. If the pandemic in the U.S. veers off in the Italian direction, that entire collection may be inadequate.
Could manufacturers of these devices boost output? Yes, but not overnight.
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“We could increase production five-fold in a 90- to 120-day period,” says Chris Kiple, chief executive of Ventec Life Systems, a Bothell, Wash. firm that makes ventilators used in hospitals, homes and ambulances. He’d have to tool up production lines, train assemblers and testers and get parts. Accelerating the parts delivery might be the toughest task, he says.
The ventilator industry is getting a burst of desperate orders from China and Italy. The U.S. hasn’t seen that yet, although manufacturers are bracing for it. “The time for action by the government is now,” says Kiple. “[Covid] is most likely to get worse next fall.”.............
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