Ventilators urgently developed, manufactured for Covid-19 fight

Vingroup – a private business conglomerate in Vietnam – has successfully developed its first ventilator model and sent to the Ministry of Health for inspection before mass-manufacturing it. Similarly, Bkav Corporation – a domestic technology giant – is trying to finish its own ventilator model in this May for production. All are striving to help doctors and patients in Vietnam in the fierce combat against Covid-19.

Bkav’s engineers are studying the BP560 design. (Photo: SGGP)
Bkav’s engineers are studying the BP560 design. (Photo: SGGP)

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long shared that his ministry is carefully inspecting Vingroup’s ventilator to approve for mass manufacturing as soon as possible. They should be ready in case there is a major outbreak of Covid-19 in Vietnam.

The representative of Vingroup announced that it is speeding its research for the second model of ventilator to send for inspection next week. This is to respond to the request on April 3 of Party General Secretary cum President of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc about the whole society joining hand to fight against Covid-19.

Before this, Vingroup decided to stop all current research projects and concentrate solely on developing both non-invasive and invasive positive-pressure (NIPP and IPP) ventilators, thermometers for domestic use. It then signed a license contract with U.S. medical device company Medtronic to use their design named PB560, an IPP ventilator. It also carried out a study on a published NIPP ventilator design provided by MIT University in the US.

Thanks to its advantages of owning a car and electronic device factory, Vingroup is able to create different kinds of parts, ranging from mechanical ones to electronic boards. Therefore, it is planning to manufacture around 45,000 NIPP and 10,000 IPP ventilators each month in the near future, said President of Vingroup Le Thi Thu Thuy.

Sharing the same concern, President cum CEO of Bkav Corp. Nguyen Tu Quang shared that on April 11, his enterprise finished its production plan for ventilators for Covid-19 patients in Vietnam.

Bkav is also interested in the BP560 design of Medtronic for manufacturing thanks to its benefits of being compact with sufficient functions to simulate breathing actions of a lung. After discussion, Medtronic agreed to let Bkav use its design for production.

CEO Quang revealed that in this May, his factory will release its first ventilator model to register for a mass-manufacturing permit from the Ministry of Health.

At the moment, 9,000 workers in Bkav’s four factories are ready for this task.

It is expected that with the great efforts of both Vingroup and Bkav, soon doctors in Vietnam are able to use made-in-Vietnam NIPP and IPP ventilators to treat Covid-19 patients, with the surplus being exported to any nations in need.

Other news