Significant Boost to Capacity of Hospitals
By the end of July, 2000 new ventilators will be built in Australia which will be a significant boost to the capacity of hospitals to respond to COVID-19. The Federal Industry Minister Karen Andrews and Victorian Jobs Minister Martin Pakula recently announced that 2000 new invasive ventilators will be produced by a consortium of local companies, led by Grey Innovation, a Victorian business. The federal government has also enacted new powers allowing the health minister to exempt ventilators from the usual safety and performance laws of the Therapeutic Goods Administration in a bid to urgently get equipment into hospitals.
One of Only Two Ventilators Manufacturers
The advanced manufacturing growth centre, industry-led not-for-profit, helped broker the deal, which, within a matter of weeks, has transformed Grey Innovation and its consortium into one of only two Australian manufacturers of it. Its Managing Director John Goennemann said the project had been turned around with remarkable speed. He also showed the value of having an advanced and versatile manufacturing sector in Australia. “You can’t respond if you are an assembler, you need to respond by being a manufacturer. The whole value chain: R&D, design, logistics, distribution, and services after. That is the versatility, resilience of a good manufacturing sector,” he further added.
Doubling the Current Ventilator Stocks
The extra ventilators will represent an almost doubling of Australia’s ventilator stocks. Surveys suggest that Australia currently has about 2300 invasive ventilators. Hospitals have an ability to surge to 4,258 intensive care beds. However, that could only be matched by a surge of 2631 invasive ventilators, leaving a potential shortfall. The federal government’s $31.3 m agreement with the Grey Innovation consortium is supported by a $500,000 grant from the Victorian government. The production of ventilator will begin in June and be completed by the end of July.
