The deadline to produce 20,000 non-invasive ventilators has been pushed back for a third time, with the National Ventilator Project (NVP) running a month behind schedule. In a report in The Times, medical experts, both independent and within the Health Department’s Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC), said that every day lost could see people’s lives hanging in the balance.
The machines – pivotal for treating those seriously affected by the virus — will be built by as many as six companies or consortiums that responded to a call for proposals ahead of the national lockdown. The first 1,000 units are due to be delivered to hospitals by the end of July or early August.
The Times reports that not only are the ventilators needed to treat those in severe respiratory distress, but they use less oxygen – an increasingly scarce commodity as hospitals fill up. A source on the MAC said non-invasive ventilators are of vital importance as hospitals in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape are reaching capacity. “The project hasn’t gone as quickly as we would have hoped, but that is true for many things in this pandemic,” said the source.
According to the report, the Western Cape Health Department said the locally produced machines will come too late and are no longer needed in its hospitals. Spokesperson Mark van der Heever said the province has already ordered 80 machines outside of those produced by the NVP and “we do not envisage requiring any additional ventilators”.
Professor Guy Richards, head of critical care at the Wits School of Medicine, said non-invasive ventilators provide a more efficient method of treatment, which relieves pressure on oxygen stocks.
[link url="https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/news/2020-07-12-the-project-hasnt-gone-as-quickly-as-wed-have-hoped-ventilator-deadline-pushed-out-again/"]Full report in The Times[/link]