The government is expected to procure 30,000 additional ventilators from Bharat Electronics, which is manufacturing a new model of the mechanical breathing device along with Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Karnataka-based Skanray.
According to rough estimates, there are only about 30,000 ventilators in India — every state has a different number. Manufacturers that ET spoke to said that the ratio of ventilators per ICU was low in the country. This could pose a major challenge if the number of Covid-19 cases increases in India, say to the level of Italy or Spain.
Looking at this shortage, companies like Skanray and M&M have teamed up with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for design and Bharat Electronics for manufacturing of these machines. A few days back there were issues with tendering process as certain state governments had not come forward with their requirement.
