Running out of ventilators is a genuine possibility. And Walton comes to rescue
For weeks now, the country has been obsessed with one group of numbers: just how many confirmed cases of coronavirus and just how many have died?
But you will find a whole other group of numbers the public needs to start watching: just how many ventilators do we have in this country?
Ventilators blow oxygen in to the lungs of patients experiencing severe pulmonary stress and so are needed for saving the lives of the sickest COVID-19 patients.
Bangladesh has just 1,250 ventilators -- 500 in public areas hospitals and 750 in the private kinds -- according to Md Aminul Hasan, director for hospitals and clinic at the Directorate General of Health Services.
If the pandemic spreads, the united states with an increase of than 16 crore population will require at least 25,000 ventilators, said AM Shamim, managing director of Labaid Group, which owns a chain of hostipal wards.
But ventilators are an issue right now, given the rate of which the lethal, pneumonia-like virus is spreading around the world. And in recent weeks, countries around the world have been scrambling to build and buy as much of these as possible.
Although regular manufacturers like Medtronic, Philips, Draegerwerk and Getinge said they have boosted their production, big names of other industries such as for example General Motors, Airbus, McLaren and Dyson have offered their engineering expertise or factory lines.
During writing, the full total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus around the globe stand at 740,157 and the full total number of deaths 35,097.
One of the possibilities to Bangladesh is to explore scope to getting the device earned from China, where the number of COVID-19 cases have dropped.
And another way is to explore the scope of earning ventilators locally and develop manpower by training to perform the devices properly.
The government is upon this course and has enlisted the service of local tech giant Walton to manufacture it with support from Medtronic.
"We have already had an enormous speak to the Medtronic team, which is run by an iconic Bangladeshi expatriate Omar Ishrak, plus they have assured us to greatly help in manufacturing ventilators in our country," said Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for the ICT division, yesterday within an online press conference.
Palak with this team attended a video conference on Saturday with the research and development team of Medtronic and they have assured to talk about their source code.
"We are very hopeful to obtain source code and patent by Wednesday and may choose manufacturing within the shortest possible time."
The junior state minister said he has recently informed the prime minister of the development and spoke with the health minister over phone.
"It will be an enormous mileage for Bangladesh," Palak added.
Usage of Information (a2i) programme under ICT division is coordinating the problem and using its help Walton has recently applied before the directorate general of health services yesterday, Golam Murshed, executive director of Walton, told The Daily Star.
Other than ventilators, Walton said it really is planning to manufacture additional medical devices like UV disinfectant, goggles, shield, respiratory mask, oxygen concentrator and PAPR.
Walton has also applied to import the elements for the life-saving machines.
About 50 local engineers have already started work on this project, Murshed said, adding that the business can get started manufacturing the goggles and protective shield from the first week of April and the other equipment from then on.
Another band of local engineers and physicians are suffering from a ventilator named Spondon recently too, said a press statement. Whether they would get into production any time in the future is undecided.
However the government though is planning to buy another 300 ventilators without further ado, according to Hasan.
"We are getting a whole lot of call. But none have these devices any more now," said Mohamad Saifur Rahman, manager monitoring and analytics therapeutic care of Philips Bangladesh, adding that five lightweight ventilators its distributors had were sold recently.
Medical equipment sellers said nearly a dozen firms import and market ventilators made mainly by manufacturers located in the united states and Europe.
And as a result of slow demand and relatively high cost, which range from $10,000 to $25,000, they often do not maintain a big inventory.
"We will not have ready stock. In fact it is supplied mainly based on order," said Shahidul Islam, director technical of Widespread Solutions, a medical equipment supplier and marketer in Bangladesh.
It might take seven to 15 days to import the devices into the country if the maker has available stock.
However, getting supply from the US is unlikely at the moment as demand is through the roof there, he said.
But Md Maniruzzman Bhuiyan, president of the Bangladesh Private Clinic Diagnostic Owners Association (BPCDOA), isn't too worried about the shortage of the lifesaving equipment.
"Only a small part of COVID-19 patients will require ventilator support."
Some 80 per cent of the patients recover normally. Of the remaining 20 percent, the health of five per cent included in this may be critical plus they might need ventilator support.
"Let us not think about the worst," he added.
The biggest preparation ought to be to avoid the spread of the disease by getting people to stay in, said Mohammad Mushtuq Husain, adviser of the Institute Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
The federal government should provide support to the needy in order that they do not have to get out of their homes, he added.
Shamim says ventilators can be managed if the federal government provides support to the private sector.
The government has given Tk 100 crore for the health sector and if the state bears half the prices of each ventilator the private sector will import a whole lot.
"We will import 1,000 ventilators in 15 days if the federal government provides subsidy," he added.
As of now, the Directorate of Drug Administration (DGDA) requested the National Board of Revenue to eliminate all duty and taxes on import of ventilators, said Director of DGDA Md Mostafizur Rahman.
Arif Mahmud, head of medical of Apollo Hospital that's set to renamed as Evercare Hospital, said a healthcare facility is in the process of adding 20 more ventilators to its existing 56.
Md EE Yousuf Siddique, chief administrative officer of Square Hospital, however said getting the equipment only will not be helpful.
"It needs trained manpower including trained intensivist respiratory therapists and trained nurses to perform the machines," he said, adding that Square might help train human resource to perform the machines.
