The country's auto venders have urged the government to formulate a joint strategy on development of medical devices to cope with the coronavirus (COVID-19) spread in the country.
Talking to Business Recorder, Chairman Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts & Accessories Manufacturers (PAAPAM), Muhammad Akram, said that the coronavirus patients faced respiratory problems for which ventilators were required across the world. Demand for ventilators has surpassed supply in the world and even rich countries like Italy, Spain, the UK and the USA cannot meet the recent spike in demand due to the pandemic.
Existing ventilators' manufacturers would not have planned for an increase in capacity which accounts for shortage of ventilators. Elaborating further he stated that several organizations like NUST, the NDMA and the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) are urging domestic manufacturing of ventilators.
"We want the design/drawing of a ventilator, nebulizer to be shared with the auto vending industry as our job is manufacturing not designing," he said, adding that when an approved design is shared with the vending industry, it will manufacture it day and night.
In reply to a question, he said PAAPAM is not asking for any incentives at this time when the nation is in trouble and wants the bad time to be over. "The medical devices needed to treat corona patients are not available in any country and Pakistan does not have such equipment," he added.
Chairman PAAPAM stated that either the government should share its strategy or accept industry's strategy so that time is not wasted.