BEL makes 30,000 ventilators 'in record time' to help govt in Covid fight

Bharat Electronics Limited, a

Navratna PSU under the Ministry of Defence, on Friday announced the successful completion of manufacturing 30,000 numbers of ICU Ventilators in a 'record time' to help the Governmet of India in its efforts in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare placed an order for these 30,000 ICU Ventilators in April 2020 to meet the healthcare infrastructure requirements of the nation, seeing the rise in COVID cases, Bengaluru-headquartered BEL said in a statement.

BEL has manufactured the ICU Ventilator, Model CV 200, based on licensing agreement with Skanray Technologies Private Ltd, Mysuru, and design support from DRDO.

"The indigenisation efforts of DRDO, BEL and Skanray in addressing the non-availability of critical components like highly complex medical grade miniature proportional valves, on/off solenoid valves, oxygen sensors and flow sensors was certainly a game changer as India can now boast of a capable and mature medical electronics ecosystem," the statement said.

After receiving the order, based on its 'Agile Production System Capability', within two weeks BEL established the manufacturing line to produce 500 to 1,000 Ventilators per day, it said.

Manufacturing of these ventilators was undertaken during severe lockdown period and BEL received immense support from various government agencies to resolve the supply chain disruptions.

As manufacturing of these ventilators was centred at the Bangalore Unit of BEL, the Karnataka government took extra initiatives by earmarking a nodal IAS officer for BEL to liaison with, to resolve various lockdown-related issues.

"BEL also would like to make special mention of the support rendered by scores of Indian industries ranging from MSMEs to large business houses in supporting BEL towards manufacturing of 30,000 ventilators in a short span of time", the statement added.

The valuable feedback received from the committee of expert doctors and hospitals pan India helped BEL to quickly upgrade the Ventilator with additional modes of operation through software to address Indian COVID-19 patient needs, it was stated.