New Delhi: The Health Ministry said Thursday that it had ensured delivery of 36,433 ventilators to government hospitals in India. The average cost of the ventilators now ranges between Rs 2-10 lakh. Costs have come down as the domestic industry took up manufacturing of the equipment. The Health Ministry underlined that all public health facilities in India had only around 16,000 ventilators from the Independence till pre-COVID times. But in less than 12 months, 36,433 ‘Make in India’ ventilators have been supplied to all the public health facilities, the ministry it said in a statement.
All export restrictions on ventilators have now been removed and ‘Make in India’ ventilators are being exported. The year witnessed tremendous achievements in the medical supplies sector in India, the ministry said.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, India was almost totally dependent on imported ventilators, PPE kits and N-95 masks,” the Health Ministry stated. “There were, in fact, no standard specifications for these products which are essential in the fight against the pandemic,” it added.
In the case of personal protective equipment (PPE), India has now become the world’s second-largest manufacturer. In March when the COVID-19 pandemic hit India production of PPE kits were minimal. Now the production capacity has gone up to more than 10 lakh PPE coveralls per day. PPEs are also exported to several countries, the ministry said.
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There are already nearly 1,700 indigenous manufacturers and suppliers registered on the government e-marketplace. Dozens of them have already been certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
Nearly 1.7 crore lakh PPE kits have been distributed free of cost to the states, Union Territories and central institutions.
“The buffer stock of PPE kits available with the central and state governments has grown from about 2 lakh in March to more than 89 lakh at present. The average price has come down substantially from nearly Rs 600 to about Rs 200 per kit in nine months,” the ministry said.
There were only three suppliers of N-95 masks with a production capacity of less than 1 lakh masks per day. Now over 3,000 manufacturers and suppliers, including 1,509 BIS-certified ones, of N-95 masks are already registered on the government portal and the domestic production capacity has risen to more than 8,00,000 per day, it said.
These are also being exported from India in large quantities. More than 4 crore N-95 masks have so far been distributed free of cost to various states, Union Territories and central institutions. The buffer stock of N-95 masks available with the central and state governments has risen sharply from about 9 lakh in March to about 1.46 crore at present and the average prices have dropped from about Rs 40 to Rs 12 per mask during the same period, the ministry added.
