Covid-19 pandemic exposed numerous shortcomings in the healthcare systems of numerous nations. In India and elsewhere, Covid-19 pandemic brought the need to have for ventilators to concentrate. According to market information India had eight ventilator producers with an yearly capacity to provide 3,360 ventilators prior to the pandemic. During the Covid crisis, nine more players entered the field and it raised India’s manufacturing capacity to 396,260 annually. Gujarat-based Max Ventilator ramped up its production and also upgraded its in-property R&D centre. Max Ventilator has developed, manufactured and marketed a wide variety of ICU, Anesthesia, Emergency & Transport, and Homecare Ventilators, of each invasive and non-invasive variants. Over the years, the firm has installed in excess of 13,000 ventilators across the complete nation. In an exclusive interview with TheSpuzz Online Ashok Patel, Founder & CEO, Max Ventilators talked about the predicament on ventilator manufacturing in India, its fluctuating demand and the help the market is hunting for from the government. Excerpt:
As a ventilator manufacturer, how do you feel we have performed in terms of handling the pandemic so far and how do we go about in terms of addressing the second wave that has hit us?
Given the dire predictions of ventilator shortage in the nation in the course of the onset of the very first wave of the pandemic, I feel till the arrival of the second wave, we had managed to overcome the shortage relatively nicely. Mounting a nation-wide work led by the government itself with other private players pitching in, our nation as a complete had aggressively scaled up the production of these lifesaving breathing machines. However, as the second wave hits us with more force and ferocity, the initial impulse was once again that we could need to have more ventilators in order to meet the anticipated surge as nicely as to stave off any eventual shortage. But a pretty current evaluation, just days ago, by the well being ministry based on patient information across hospitals in the nation indicates that the need to have for ventilators in the second wave may perhaps nicely be reduce than in the very first wave. Yet, this is just one evaluation and we may perhaps need to have more of such research to conclusively establish that the demand for ventilators will be reduce this time. My private instinct tells me that the demand for ventilators will stay steady and pretty much at the very same levels as the very first wave if not extraordinarily larger.
As an person manufacturer, how did you handle to deal with the fluctuations or the volatility in demand in the last couple of months?
Sticking to the fundamentals of inventory management doubled with maintaining a tight leash on the whole worth chain of ventilator production is what has helped us navigate by way of this volatility in demand in the last couple of months. As such, we have been in a position to maintain our production lines adaptable responding to the ebb and flow of the demand suitably – cranking up production or lowering it based on the predicament. Maintaining fantastic relations with our vendors and suppliers has also stood us in very good stead in this regard. Even in the course of the second wave, we have a prepared-to-provide inventory of about 300 to 350 ventilators. Over-all, we have seasoned a one hundred% jump in demand in the last one month or so with our month-to-month capacity getting about 1000 ventilators per month. At the very same time, expecting a demand for option devices, we have also been working on other machines such as an HFOT device which has a far reduce operating price and could make sure practically one hundred% probabilities of survival of a patient.
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And if there is shortage, can you quantify that shortage? And why are we facing this shortage in the very first location?
Every city is operating brief of Ventilators, as this new strain has a standard behavior that it begins damaging the lungs inside 4 to 5 days of time. The only way to treat the patients in this case is either by way of pressurized oxygen and later ventilator, there is no other way than these two. Due to shortage of oxygen, individuals are place on ventilators as last resort. So patients on ventilators are rising and we do not have enough ventilators. India has much less than 50% of the ventilators than required for the therapy. From your expertise, which states or regions are probably to face a more extreme shortage of ventilators and which are probably to face much less?
Although the second wave has swept numerous more states and regions, we have observed maximum demand coming from states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal so far. In truth, we have began getting demand from Delhi as nicely lately.
Although, in the course of the very first wave of the pandemic we had been getting massive demand from states like Kerala, Punjab and Karnataka, the demand has declined there as they look to be more equipped now.
As against the first wave, in your estimate, how many more ventilators would India require to meet the needs of our people during the second wave?
This would depend on the number of severe cases that we eventually have in a few weeks or even months. But I think we have enough ventilators in the country, or we have sufficiently developed the capability to make more if required.
While the government has encouraged domestic production of ventilators through PLI schemes, etc., what more can the government do to further incentivize and propel this indigenization? What are the regulatory steps that the government has taken so far to improve both the quality and quantity of medical devices – particularly ventilators – that you appreciate? What more do you expect from the government?
Yes, the government has indeed attempted to impart a push to domestic manufacturing of ventilators through programmes such as the PLI scheme within the larger drive for achieving self-reliance. And it is indeed welcome. What the government could do more in this context is to lower the entry barriers in terms of annual turnover criterion, etc., and expanding the device segment hitherto covered to more products under the scheme. This would help smaller but efficient players also participate effectively.
As regards regulatory steps to improve quality and quantity, the classification of ventilators as regulated devices under BIS and CDSCO under Medical Devices Rules 2017 and 2020 must be acknowledged. That acquisition of ISO 13485 certification for products has been made mandatory is again welcome.
The government could also step in by way of restriction of imported ventilators into the country which would also catalyze the ongoing Atmanirbhar Bharat drive.
What are some of the common components of a ventilator that you source from abroad and how dependent are you on imports for making a ventilator?
High end critical accessories were the only component which we used to import from other countries.
While before COVID-19 took place 60% of our raw materials were sourced from outside India, but post lockdown when other countries refused to give us the material, we are now down to 10%. We encouraged our own vendors to manufacture the components in India itself, we ensured them that we are here to help them and guide them through it all so that in future god forbid if again any such situation arises, we do not have to depend on other countries for our material.
In terms of quality, what more can we do to compete with the world-class ventilator manufacturers from Europe and the US?
Again, while the imperative to reduce input costs in terms of utility and infrastructure expenses is certainly critical to make our products cost-competitive, we would need to align the technical specifications and standards of our products with European and American product standards. In the long run, sufficient investment in related technologies backed by a continuously flourishing R&D ecosystem would help us emerge as a world-class manufacturer of ventilators.