Tag: ventilators

Over 2 crore N95 masks, 1.18 crore PPE kits, 11,000 ventilators supplied to states, UTs since Apr 1: Govt

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Since April 1, the Centre has distributed more than 2.02 crore N95 masks and over 1.18 crore PPE kits among the states, Union territories and central institutions for free, the Union health ministry said on Friday.

In addition, 11,300 “Make in India” ventilators have so far been dispatched to various states, Union territories and central institutions, of which 6,154 have already been delivered to various hospitals, it said.

“The central government is also ensuring their installation/commissioning. This will help to bridge the massive gap in availability of ventilators in COVID ICU facilities,” the ministry said in a statement.

The health ministry is also supplying 1.02 lakh oxygen cylinders to the states and Union territories, of which 72,293 have been delivered to strengthen the oxygen-beds there. Also, more than 6.12 crore HCQ tablets have been given to the states and Union territories.

The Union government, along with the states and Union territories, has been relentlessly working for the prevention, containment and management of COVID-19, the statement said. The central role of the government has been in strengthening the health infrastructure to fight the pandemic, it added.

“Along with augmenting COVID-19 facilities, Centre has been providing medical supplies free of cost to the state and UT governments to supplement their efforts,” the ministry said.

The statement underlined that most of the products supplied by the Centre were not being manufactured in the country in the beginning and there was a global demand due to the pandemic, resulting in a “scarce availability in the foreign markets”.

However, with the combined efforts of the ministries of health, textiles, pharmaceuticals, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and others, the domestic industry has been encouraged to manufacture and supply essential medical equipment such as personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, N95 masks, ventilators during this period.

“With the result, resolve for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ has been strengthened and most of the supplies made by GOI are domestically manufactured,” the ministry said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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India Post-Railway service delivers ventilators 800 km away

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India Post Railway Parcel Service (IPRPS), a joint venture of the Central Railway and India Post in Maharashtra, has delivered two ventilators to a hospital in Thane from Nagpur within 24 hours, officials said on Thursday.

The service, available between Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, is useful to deliver large consignments under the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, the CR said in a release here.

IPRPS picked up the consignment from Bajajnagar, Nagpur on June 8 and delivered it within 24 hours to the Regional Mental Hospital at Thane, over 800 km away, it said.

“This consignment…weighed 134 kg for which the earnings was not very lucrative, but this door to door service was something unusual and out of the box,” CR release stated.

Under the service, India Post picks up consignment from the premises of the customer and delivers to the consignee using special parcel trains of the CR and Postal Mail Motor Service.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US to ship first tranche of 100 donated ventilators to India next week: White House

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The US will be ready to ship the first tranche of 100 donated ventilators to India next week, President Donald Trump told Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a conference call, the White House said.

Trump spoke with Modi on Tuesday and “the two leaders discussed the G-7 (summit), the COVID-19 response, and regional security issues”, it said.

“The president was happy to announce that the United States would be ready to ship the first tranche of 100 donated ventilators to India next week,? the White House said in a readout of the call.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi in a series of tweets said that he had a warm and productive conversation with his friend Trump.

We discussed his plans for the US Presidency of G-7, the COVID-19 pandemic, and many other issues, he said.

The richness and depth of India-US consultations will remain an important pillar of the post-COVID global architecture, Modi tweeted.

Trump spoke about the US presidency of the Group of seven, and conveyed his desire to expand the ambit of the grouping beyond the existing membership, to include other important countries including India.

In this context, he extended an invitation to Prime Minister Modi to attend the next G-7 Summit to be held in USA, said the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in a statement.

Modi commended Trump for his creative and far-sighted approach, acknowledging the fact that such an expanded forum would be in keeping with the emerging realities of the post-COVID world.

Prime Minister Modi said that India would be happy to work with the US and other countries to ensure the success of the proposed Summit, the PMO said.

Expressing concern regarding the ongoing civil disturbances in the US, Modi conveyed his best wishes for an early resolution of the situation.

The two leaders also exchanged views on other topical issues, such as the COVID-19 situation in the two countries, the situation on the India-China border, and the need for reforms in the World Health Organisation, the PMO said.

During the call, Trump warmly recalled his visit to India in February this year.

Modi said that the visit had been memorable and historic on many accounts, and had also added new dynamism to the bilateral relationship, the statement said.

The exceptional warmth and candour of the conversation reflected the special nature of the Indo-US ties, as well as the friendship and mutual esteem between both leaders, the PMO statement added.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US to gift 200 ventilators to India, USAID to bear the cost

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The United States government is sending 200 ventilators to India and this consignment would be a gift from the US while the cost would be borne by USAID or United States Agency for International Development, sources in the Indian government have confirmed.

“The plan, as of now, is to deliver half (100) of them in May and the remaining (100) in June. USAID will finalize the delivery schedule next week”, said a senior official requesting anonymity.

On Saturday, US President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that the US government would be donating ventilators to India.

“I am proud to announce that the United States will donate ventilators to our friends in India. We stand with India and Narendra Modi during this pandemic. We’re also cooperating on vaccine development. Together we will beat the invisible enemy!”, he said.

I am proud to announce that the United States will donate ventilators to our friends in India. We stand with India and @narendramodi during this pandemic. We’re also cooperating on vaccine development. Together we will beat the invisible enemy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 15, 2020

Prime Minister Modi also thanked POTUS on twitter for the gesture. “This pandemic is being fought collectively by all of us. In such times, it’s always important for nations to work together and do as much as possible to make our world healthier and free from COVID-19. More power India-US friendship!”.

Thank you @POTUS @realDonaldTrump.

This pandemic is being fought collectively by all of us. In such times, it’s always important for nations to work together and do as much as possible to make our world healthier and free from COVID-19.

More power to 🇮🇳 – 🇺🇸 friendship! https://t.co/GRrgWFhYzR

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 16, 2020

According to reports the total cost of the 200 ventilators is estimated to be $2.9 million and the company supplying these ventilators would be paid by USAID. The US aid agency would soon share the model and technical specifications of the ventilators with the Indian government.

India like most countries has been trying to meet the domestic shortage of ventilators amidst COVID-19 by importing ventilators from abroad. Major automobile manufacturers have also been roped in to make ventilators in collaboration with existing manufacturers.

India and the US have maintained close cooperation since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. PM Modi has spoken to US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has spoken over four times in the past few weeks. India had also lifted the ban on the export of Hydroxychloroquine on the request of US President Donald Trump.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US to donate ventilators to India to fight coronavirus: Trump

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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President Donald Trump has announced that the US will donate a lot of ventilators to India to help it fight the “invisible enemy”, moments after he underlined the close partnership between the two countries and called Prime Minister Narendra Modi his “good friend”.

Trump also said the US and India were cooperating to develop a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus that has claimed 307,666 lives and infected more than 4.5 million people globally since it emerged in China in December last year.

India’s tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases crossed 85,000 on Friday, surpassing China’s count of 82,933 infections.

“I am proud to announce that the United States will donate ventilators to our friends in India,” Trump said in a tweet.

However, the White House did not say how many breathing devices would be sent.

“We are sending a lot of ventilators to India. I spoke to Prime Minister Modi. We are sending quite a few ventilators to India. We have tremendous supply of ventilators,” Trump told reporters before boarding Marine One on his way to Camp David on Friday.

“Together we will beat the invisible enemy! We stand with India and Prime Minister Modi during this pandemic,” Trump told reporters in the Rose Garden of the White House.

The president is scheduled to spend his weekend at Camp David for a number of meetings.

At Trump’s request, India had last month allowed the export of 50 million hydroxychloroquine tablets to treat COVID-19 patients in America, the country worst-hit by the pandemic, with 87,530 deaths and over 1.4 million infections reported so far, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Earlier in the day, Trump praised India and Prime Minister Modi.

“India has been so great and as you know your prime minister has been a very good friend of mine. I just got back a short while ago from India and we are very much together,” the president said, referring to his visit to New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Agra in February.

Trump said Indian-Americans were “great” scientists and researchers, who were contributing to the development of the coronavirus vaccine.

He said a COVID-19 vaccine would likely be available by the end of the year. Trump has appointed the former head of vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline to spearhead the vaccine development effort.

“The president just extolled our great relationship with India. India has been a great partner to us for quite some time. I am encouraged to hear ventilators to India,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a press briefing.

She said India will be among several countries that would be getting the ventilators.

A number of countries, including India, are trying to procure ventilators needed for hospitals to deal with the demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Last month, China said it was ready to help India procure the ventilators to treat coronavirus patients, but underlined that Chinese firms are finding it difficult to scale-up production as they needed imported parts.

A ventilator takes over the body’s breathing process when disease has caused the lungs to fail. This gives the patient time to fight off the infection and recover

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India COVID-19 patients: 3.2% on oxygen support, 1.1% on ventilators, 4.7% in ICUs

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Nearly 3.2 percent COVID-19 patients hospitalised in India are on oxygen support and 1.1 percent are on ventilators, the ministry of health and family welfare said on Friday. The information was shared by Lav Agarwal, joint secretary at the ministry of health and family welfare.

“Out of the cases under active medical supervision, 3.2 percent are on oxygen support, 4.7 percent are in ICU support and 1.1 percent are on ventilator support,” Agrawal said. It is important to note that as of now, 37,916 patients are hospitalised or under active medical supervision.

As of May 1, India had 19,398 ventilators available in the country against a demand of 75,000 ventilators. The country has placed orders for 60,884 ventilators as of May 1, out of which order for 59,884 ventilators has been placed with domestic manufacturers such as 30,000 with BEL and Skanray, 10,000 with Maruti Suzuki and AgVa and 13,500 with AP Medtech zone.

In oxygen segment, as of May 1, India had a total manufacturing capacity of 6,400 MTs of oxygen, out of 1,000 MT is used for medical oxygen. The country has five big and 600 small manufacturers of oxygen and 409 hospitals in the country have their own oxygen generation. As many as 1,050 cryogenic tankers were available as of May 1.

As far as oxygen cylinders are concerned, as of May 1, the country had 4.38 lakh medical oxygen cylinders available for supply. Order for around 1,03,000 oxygen cylinders has also been placed and order has been placed to convert 60,000 industrial oxygen cylinders into medical oxygen cylinders.

“More than 5 lakh industrial oxygen cylinders identified for conversion if required,” the government had said on May 1.

India has reported a total of 56, 342 cases of COVID-19 as of 8:00 am of May 8. Out of the total reported cases, 16,540 patients have been discharged and 37,916 cases are under active medical supervision, Agarwal added.

In the last 24 hours, India has added 3,390 new cases of novel coronavirus and 1,273 patients have been discharged in the last 24 hours. With 16,540 patients now discharged, the current recovery rate stands at 29.36 percent and is increasing day by day. This indicates that nearly one out of three hospitalised COVID-19 patients has been discharged, Agarwal said.

So far, no COVID-19 case has been reported in 216 districts. In addition, 42 districts have not reported any fresh cases in last 28 days, no fresh cases have been seen in last 21 days in 29 districts, 36 districts have not reported any fresh cases in last 14 days and no new case has been reported in last seven days in 46 districts, the health ministry said.

The government on Friday said Indian Council of Medical Research will conduct clinical trials to check efficacy and safety of convalescent plasma therapy at 21 hospitals of the country. The assessment will be done at 5 hospitals in Maharashtra , 4 hospitals in Gujarat, 2 each in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and 1 each in Punjab, Telangana, Karnataka, Chandigarh.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

COVID-19 is resetting the world, says Enam’s Vallabh Bhanshali

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The world has taken a huge blow as it battles the COVID-19 pandemic and economists suggest that India’s FY21 gross domestic product (GDP) growth could fall to as low as 2.5 percent.

Chairman at Enam Securities Vallabh Bhanshali, former economic affairs secretary SC Garg and Arnab Das of Invesco shared their views on what economic policies are needed when the lockdown ends. They discussed the topics such as the help banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and manufacturing industries would require and the global scenario in FY21.

Here’s what the trio had to say:

“These are extraordinary times. We have been going over the last four-five years through extraordinary reforms with regards to business processes, the way we look at ourselves and set our priorities. In that process, COVID-19 could not have come at a worst time. Yet, I feel when I look at some of the valuations in the market and how efficiency, governance, etc. are being valued and how companies are able to grow, I think there is some glimmer of hope. I think COVID-19 is resetting the world and when the world resets, and you have a lot of the reform already out of the way, we can begin anew,” said Bhanshali.

Speaking about Indian enterprises to come back in a big way, he added, “In a pandemic, there are a lot of unfortunate losses – losses of lives and financial losses, but you have a kind of slate just as you see clean skies today. Enterprises cannot be held back; India is full of enterprises and those enterprises will come back roaring. The Railways is making ventilators, a company in Rajkot is making a ventilator for Rs 1 lakh – from nowhere these things are happening.

“I think therefore that spirit, the whole enterprise engine, I think it is going to come back gushing big time. So, I cannot see the granularity of it, but I definitely see it as a wave happening and that India will come out of it just as I expect the world to come out of it.”

Next Garg spoke of timing of reforms. He stressed, “This is not the time for a reform. Reforms are advisable and a lot of that would be needed, but first we need to deal with the epidemic, the crisis, which has come on account of the epidemic. The economy has been locked down, that is what is required to be handled first and along with that we will need further reforms.”

When asked if the lockdown needs to be staggered in terms of its removal, Garg replied, “The lockdown – we are not fully aware and conscious of the cost of it. You have said, people are saying that the economy will lose or will grow at a less rate of about 2-3 percent, I see it very differently. If currently our 60-70 percent of the economy is not functioning and we produce about 8-9 percent of GDP in a month, I suspect that in the month of April – first 15 days – we would have lost 3-4 percent of the GDP already.

“If this continues as it is then we will lose that pace and therefore the decision regarding phasing in of the economy after April 14 must be considered taking this into account. On one side you have the risk of COVID-19 and this is a real risk but at the same time, you have to also manage to put the economy back on track. That would require a judgement to be applied and balancing of the risk as well as the advantage of the opening of the economy.”

Lastly, Arnab Das said, “It is going to take time for the world economy to recover its poise. I suppose what is going to happen is a series of gradual sequence of removals of these lockdowns because different countries has entered into the pandemic and into the lockdown at different times at different intensities and rates.

“Also there is very important risk of a second wave and you see the emergence of a potential second wave in Japan, some indications in that direction in China itself. So you see some lockdown starting to come back in in some places. So I think it is going to be quite complicated exiting from these lockdowns. It is going to be a much more gradual and sequenced kind of emergence from the lockdowns.”

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Here’s how states are preparing to tackle surge in coronavirus cases

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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It’s the eighth day of the nationwide lockdown, and the number of coronavirus cases in India has risen to more than 1,600. Active cases stand at over 1,400, and so far, with 132 people recovered. The outbreak has claimed 38 lives so far. This is according to the number available on health ministry’s website as of 4:30 pm this evening.

According to the government, at least 48,000 tests have been conducted so far, utilising 38 percent of India’s testing capacity. At least 816 samples were tested at private labs on Tuesday, and so far 51 private labs have been approved to conduct COVID testing.

Maharashtra and Kerala are the worst hit states in terms of number of cases. According to the Maharashtra government, 351 cases have been detected in the state, with number of active cases at 302, total recoveries are at 39, and 10 people have died from the infection.

In Kerala, the number of confirmed cases now stands at 265. Till date the state has tested over 7,400 samples of which 6,300 have come as negative. Also, over 1.6 lakh people in the state are under surveillance and around 660 are admitted in isolation facilities.

Tamil Nadu has seen a sudden surge in the number of cases. According to the National Health Mission, 110 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in 15 districts of the state, bringing the total count to 234.

In the national capital, Delhi, the number of positive cases have risen to 120. Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has said his government will give an ex-gratia of Rs 1 crore to the family of any healthcare or sanitation worker who dies in the line of duty.

As the stress on the healthcare system increases, a Nagpur-based doctor has moved the Supreme Court seeking WHO graded protective gear for healthcare professionals across the country. The court has asked the Centre to respond to the plea by next week.

So, how are states preparing to tackle the surge in coronavirus cases? To discuss this matter Shereen Bhan spoke to Dr Anup Kumar Yadav, Commissioner – Health of Maharashtra, Niharika Barik Singh, Secretary Health & Family Welfare of Chhattisgarh and KK Shailaja, health minister of Kerala.

Yadav said, “In the  state of Maharashtra we are very much concerned about the health workers who are working in frontline areas like hospitals and all. We are definitely providing them all the protective gears as per the government of India guidelines. As of now we have sufficient stock and around 20,000 personal protective gears we have in our stock and these are distributed as per the needs of different facilities.”

Yadav further added, “As far as testing is concerned, Maharashtra is well placed as far as the number of labs are concerned. We are already having around 13 government labs, 10 private labs which are being given permission to test COVID-19 patients from ICMR. So around 22 labs are there in Maharashtra and we are sufficiently placed as far as testing also.”

Shailaja said, “We have arranged all the things to face this severe problem. We have more than 1,00,000 beds for isolation in medical colleges, district hospitals and private hospitals also. We are trying our best to collect sufficient number of PPE kits and N95 masks etc but these two things PPE kits and N95 masks are facing scarcity.”

Singh said, “We have 9 positive cases as of now. We have tested around 787 suspects. Out of the 9 positive cases, 5 of them have come from UK. So we have made a list of all the UK passengers from March 1 and we are testing all of them.”

“We are also testing all the foreign returned since March 1 and we have home quarantined them. So far we have home quarantined around 51000 people. Our strategy is to aggressively quarantine people and if there are any symptoms in the quarantined people, we immediately test and take them to isolation.”

Singh further added, “We are very short on PPE, we have less than 5000 PPEs with us. Even for testing the lab technician would need a PPE to test suspect cases. So if you ask me to increase the tests, I would also want more number of PPEs.”

“We are looking up to the government of India, we have been asking them and placing our demand, so far we have just got 1000 PPEs from government of India, we are waiting for more. At least 10000 PPE we need right away. We are trying to make exclusive COVID hospitals.”

“AIIMS is here, AIIMS can hike up to 500 beds and start doing the first level of admission there. We have also made another 100 bed civil hospital exclusively for COVID. Our largest medical college hospital we are turning into exclusive COVID hospital right now. The chief minister has asked all districts to at least be prepared with 100 isolation beds.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

COVID-19 helpline: Here’s how Indian manufacturers plan to boost production and supply of critical healthcare items

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India has risen above 1,000 and total active cases now stand at over 900. However the good news is that the number of recoveries stands at 99 and less than 20 people are on ventilator support.

With the nation-wide lockdown to contain the spread of the virus entering the sixth day, cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba has dismissed reports that the government may be looking at extending the 21-day lockdown, which is slated to end on April 14.

Meanwhile, the Centre has released some data on how India’s healthcare infrastructure is being prepared to cope with a rise in the number of COVID cases. 14,000 ventilators have been identified across the country, and orders have been placed for 40,000 more. 10,000 of these ventilators will be manufactured by Noida-based AgVa Healthcare and 30,000 units will be made by Bharat Electronics.

The government is also speeding up the procurement of personal protection equipment for healthcare workers. Orders have been placed for 21 lakh coveralls and 30 lakh kits. Production of N95 masks has also been ramped up, with the DRDO being roped in to help.

Even the industry body CII has come forward with a collective platform of India’s large manufacturers to support the government in boosting the production and supply of critical healthcare items. The CII’s coalition of manufacturing companies will ramp up inventory of critical healthcare products like ventilators and personal protection equipment by manufacturing in large volumes and by importing them for immediate requirement.

To discuss how this coalition will work and the challenges such an endeavour could face, CNBC-TV18 spoke to Sunil Kant Munjal Chairman of Hero Enterprise; Rajan Wadhera President of SIAM;  Naresh Trehan, Chairman, Healthcare at CII and MD of Medanta; Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General at CII and RC Bhargava, Chairman,  Maruti Suzuki.

Banerjee said, “We have identified three areas of work, one is the ventilators, second are the personal protective equipment’s (PPEs) and third are the masks. These are three big categories that we are really working at. We are maximising the capacity of the existing ventilator manufacturing companies whose products are already tested and certified but they need capital, they need to be attached to some bigger and qualified manufacturers.”

Therefore, we have formed a consortium with CII, with other manufacturing organisations like the automobile vehicles manufacturing association the SIAM, the component manufacturers association, the machine tool manufacturers association, the defence manufacturers association. We have connected with the DRDO.  The DRDO is the main body now, which is certifying the type of ventilators and the specification of those ventilators. We have had a large broadcast with the DRDO to get many smaller medium sized companies getting involved in the manufacture of ventilators, said Banerjee.

Bhargava said, “This is design and a technology which apparently was developed by AgVa. We have  joined with AgVa because it was amongst  one of the companies sent to us by the ministry and they had already an order for 10000 ventilators from HLL.”

“We thought that if we were looking for any new design from anybody, it would have meant defacto starting out from scratch, trying to get all the components developed, if something had to be imported, finding sources of those components and that would take a very long time. TSo, to get immediate results the best thing was to use our expertise to scale up the production volumes of AgVa.  Till now AgVa was doing on aboult 300-400 per year and we wanted to get upto a few thousand per month,” said Bhargava.

He further added, “Besides the premise, which AgVa owns, we have also got a much larger premise from one of our vendors in Noida and we are using that for purposes of manufacturing and assembling these ventilators. We have got at least three of our vendors who are large scale vendors starting to manufacture the components, they have already got the drawings, they have started the manufacture of the prototypes. By Wednesday the prototypes will be ready and then they can be tried out and seen if they are perfectly alright, so that the dimensions and all are done.”

“The most difficult part is the imported components. We found AgVa had no imported components in stock and they had to get it from China, so we are looking for other sources as well. However as per what AgVa says, one lot of these imported components should be here by Wednesday or Thursday and we will start assembling,” said Bhargava.

Munjal said, “We are trying to see how we can supplement the current supply and availability of all the four things – one is protective gear for healthcare workers and others, second is testing kits which is a big challenge at the moment. The third is respirators and ventilators — you need multiple kinds of ventilators. You need the very sophisticated one for the very serious patients but you also need the other ones because you cannot get the most expensive ones for all the patients as we just won’t be able to afford it. The fourth is masks and gloves etc. We also have to carefully segregate the COVID patients from others. So the efficient way would be to declare COVID-19 full hospitals, so you do not need to separate air circulation, water supply etc because if regular hospital gets COVID-19 patients, the chances of spreading this is very high.”

“One has to be careful as to not kill the ability that we have to treat patients for other diseases and so we have been in touch with both the industry and the government,” said Munjal.

Trehan said, “The most important thing about ventilators is that the safety standards have to be extreme because anything that we do which may actually malfunction and cost a life that would be a disaster. The fact is that we have to meet the specifications with proper testing and we have offered to do the testing for these manufacturers if they do desire because if it gets delayed then it won’t serve our purpose. So we will try to help in every way. I am glad that Maruti is helping to actually get it up and running. However we have to be very careful, we must do it and test it properly before we put it out into the clinical use domain.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow