Atma Nirbhar Bharat: Indigenous ventilator manufacturing increases; procurement price drops, says govt

The government data has indicated that a minimum of 18,000 ventilators have been delivered to 700 state and central hospitals.

Coronavirus treatment in India: From a shortage of ventilators for COVID-19 patients to now having a huge market share, domestic ventilator manufacturers have grown significantly in the past six months of Coronavirus pandemic. According to a report by The Indian Express, the indigenous ventilator manufacturing has a 96 per cent market share in India and is 90 per cent in terms of value. The report citing the Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that there is a significant increase in domestic share of manufacturers which has also led to a drop in the procurement price. Currently, with the competitive pricing of domestic players, the ventilators can now be procured between Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh per unit when compared to imported ventilators that come at a cost of around Rs 10-20 lakh.

It is to note that ventilators are used by Coronavirus infected patients who have an advanced stage of infection and need respiratory support. The report emphasised that while there is availability of ventilators for COVID-19 patients, only 0.27 per cent of the total positive cases in India need ventilator support. The country does not even have one per cent COVID-19 patients who require ventilators, the report quoted Bhushan as saying. The government data has indicated that a minimum of 18,000 ventilators have been delivered to 700 state and central hospitals. The centre plans to procure 60,000 ventilators out of which 50,000 will be bought using the PM Cares fund, the report said.

According to Rajesh Bhushan, in India, the domestic capacity of manufacturing ventilators has not been much. Last year, the domestic market for ventilators accounted for 8,510 units whereas the annual value can be recorded at Rs 444 crore. Further, the imported ventilators held 75 per cent market share in the country. However, with an exponential demand in March with the outbreak of Coronavirus and restrictions on export by many ventilator producing countries led to the rise of domestic players in ventilator manufacturing. Even those who developed ventilators in India, depended on imports for some required components. Bhushan said that with the help Indian entrepreneurs and innovators, components and ventilators, both could be made within the country.

The report said that the government has created 36 WhatsApp groups that deal with the issues regarding the supply chain of ventilators. There is one dedicated group for each state and a union territory where many doctors, suppliers and government officials are added.