96 pc of 60,000 ventilators ordered by govt are 'Make in India'

New Delhi [India], Aug 4 (ANI): Out of the total 60,000 ventilators the Union government has ordered, the share of Make in India ventilators is 96 per cent by volume and 90 per cent by value, according to the Union health ministry on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference here, Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health said Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Andhra Med-Tech Zone (AMTZ) played a major role in producing the Make in India ventilators.
"I would like to share the saga of how Indian domestic industry and Indian innovators along with the Indian government created a new industry--homegrown basic ICU ventilators. Out of the total 60,000 ventilators the Union government has ordered, the share of Make in India ventilators is 96 per cent by volume and 90 per cent by value," he said.
"In 2019, the Indian ventilator market was roughly estimated as 8,510 units valued at Rs 444.74 crore. Because of COVID-19, in March domestic manufacturers imported various components like sensors, pressure transducer, control valves, turbines. It wouldn't have been possible to make ventilators without import then," he added.
Bhushan said out of 60,000 ventilators, 50,000 are being funded from PMCaresFund with a monetary value of about Rs 2,000 crore. In less than two months more than 18,000 ventilators have been supplied to states/ UTs/ Central Govt. Hospitals/ DRDO facility, he said.
Bhushan said that initially ventilators were not regulated medical devices in the country and neither they were under Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification.
"Later technical experts under Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) prescribed Minimum Essential Specifications for basic ICU ventilators to be procured for COVID-19 purposes," he said.
Bhushan said the actual case load of COVID-19 in the country today is 5,86,298 as more than 12 lakh people have already recovered.
India witnessed a single-day spike of 52,050 COVID-19 cases as the total count of cases in the country reached 18,55,746 on Tuesday.
The number of cured/discharged/migrated patients stands at 12,30,510 and 38,938 persons have died, the Health Ministry added. (ANI)