ventilator production capacity of china only accounts for 20%
of the world; it is difficult to support global demands due to
the key components are controlled by others.
at the press conference held on march 30, the ministry of industry and information
technology introduced 21 invasive ventilator manufacturers in china, accounting for
about only 1/5 of global production capacity, not as the rumor goes that china is the
largest ventilator manufacturer in the world. however, due to the effective epidemic
prevention and control of china, the current capacity of ventilators has been rapidly
increased. in just 10 days since march 19, china has exported 1,700 ventilators and
has received 20,000 orders. the epidemic is likely to become an important
opportunity to improve the quality and efficiency of china's ventilator industry.
almost all of the ventilators used in the icu are invasive ventilators. to use this
ventilator, the doctors need to cut the patient's trachea first, and the patients obtain the
required oxygen by artificial air conduction. ventilator is an essential life support
device for critically ill patients and patients with severe lung infections. since the
outbreak of the coronavirus, the demand for invasive ventilators around the world has
risen rapidly, which make the ventilators being an important medical resource for
governments of all countries.
on usual critically ill patients have lost the ability to breathe spontaneously, which
leads the high requirements on the pressure control and gas supply stability of
invasive ventilators, and also the difficult production. the "artificial lung" that
played an active role in the rescue of critically ill patients with coronavirus was
actually a higher-end invasive ventilator. in normal years, 40,000 to 50,000 invasive
ventilators can be produced per year. at present, more than half of the world's
ventilators are produced by european countries. hamilton medical in switzerland is
the world's largest ventilator manufacturer. with the recent rapid expansion of
production capacity, the daily output of hamilton is only 70 units.
in the past, the ventilators used in top three hospitals of china were almost all
products of european and american companies; their price is hundreds of thousands
per unit. in recent years, with the continuous improvement of manufacturing level,
more and more chinese companies have mastered the manufacturing process of
high-end medical equipment such as invasive ventilators. the ventilator output of
china now reaches 20% of the world, which is also a remarkable result. however, at
present the ventilator manufacturers in china have not captured all the core key
technologies. the proportional valves and other flow control component used on the
ventilator still need to be imported from european and american countries, which
also limit the further development of chinese ventilator industry.
due to the global spread of coronavirus, there is now a general shortage of ventilators
in all countries over the world. just the demand of new york is 30,000 ventilators.
now rolls royce, mclaren, ge, ford and other well-known enterprises are turning
to the production of the ventilator, the demand for key components of the ventilator
will definitely increase significantly. hamilton, a swiss company, recently faced
production difficulties after romania banned the export of a part for ventilator.
finally the romanian government resumed its export by the way of the swiss
government to replace the component with a finished set ventilator. it now appears
that the global epidemic of the coronavirus cannot be quietly ended within a few
months. if chinese companies do not speed up the research and development of key
parts and components, the future production capacity may still be controlled by
others.