India’s silicon PV manufacturer Central Electronics plans to put together its technical expertise to ramp-up the production of ICU ventilators. It has expressed desire to join hands with ventilator manufacturers, as part of the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Somik Das, Senior Power Analyst at GlobalData, comments:“The need for ventilators is on the rise due to the current pandemic situation. Ventilator shortage has been an issue that the government has been closely monitoring, and several steps are being taken to ensure hospitals are well equipped and face no shortage of ventilators that are essential in managing the critical COVID-19 patients.

“Recently, the government reached out to five automakers – Tata Motors Ltd, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M), Hyundai Motor India Ltd, Honda Cars India Ltd, and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd to explore the possibility of manufacturing ventilators at their plants.”

The data shows there are only 8,432 ventilators in the public sector in India. The scarcity is mostly present in the major pandemic hit areas. For instance, Mumbai has 800 to 1,000 ventilators, while states such as Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh have 1,500 and 1,800, respectively. The city of Bengaluru has approximately 400 ventilators, whereas Kerala has 5,000. Hence, it is clear that other manufacturing entities, from other sectors, need to join hands and repurpose their pipeline schedules to help the nation with the supply of this medical equipment.

Central Electronics is following the footsteps of its solar-sector counterpart Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) by trying to cater to the surging demand for ICU ventilators amid the COVID-19 outbreak within the country.

Das concludes: “The solar cell manufacturer has put forth its interest in collaborating with ventilator manufacturers, to work on setting up facilities to make this medical equipment. Central Electronics joins a growing list of solar companies, like Tesla Solar, that is now venturing into the development of ventilators to help fight back against the COVID-19 pandemic.”