Friday, 29 March, 2024
HomeSouth AfricaSA suppliers race against time to secure essential medical equipment

SA suppliers race against time to secure essential medical equipment

South Africa is in a life-or-death race to secure essential medical equipment before a surge in COVID-19 patients is expected to hit hospitals in about 10 days' time. A Sunday Times report notes that state suppliers are scrambling to secure ventilators, masks, gloves, respirators and sanitisers from local and international manufacturers. But with delays of more than three weeks due to global demand, there are fears deliveries might be too late to save some of the pandemic's victims.

While the Health Department says it has sufficient supplies "depending on the number of people who succumb to COVID-19", spokesperson Popo Maja said plans were in place to fly to countries that could supply medication and medical equipment. "We will go. By whatever means we will fetch the supplies that are needed," he said. Maja said the department was talking to China, South Korea, Cuba and Singapore. "They have committed to assisting us."

Professor Alex van den Heever, a health economist at the Wits School of Governance, said in the report that state hospitals had 1,178 intensive care unit (ICUs) beds across the country. Private hospitals had an additional 2,140. ICU beds are equipped with ventilators. "It is touch and go with bed numbers. This is compounded by the fact that you cannot have Covid-19-infected people in ICU wards with other patients. "If we can secure ventilators, which will be necessary for the approaching patient infection surge, we can create more ICU beds, but the problem is time. We don't have it.”

According to the report, van den Heever said South Africa should exploit its relationships with countries that were beating the COVID-19 infection curve to obtain equipment and do so at an acceptable price.

UK-based company Penlon is seemingly reluctant to help a group of South African businessmen, doctors and engineers reproduce a potentially life-saving mechanical ventilator it first produced nearly 40 years ago, because it was "marketing" the machines. News24 quotes Penlon as saying that its immediate focus was the UK market, where it is one of two companies contracted to produce 30,000 ventilators. Efforts to find an alternative solution to produce or procure ventilators is a critical feature of South African government’s immediate focus and a key focus area of one of several work streams set up by the department of trade and industry in response to the local novel coronavirus outbreak.

News24 reports that the group, led by businessman Justin Corbett, has been in direct contact with people who are part of these work streams and their initiative was supported by key stakeholders.

Corbett’s team identified the Penlon Nuffield 200 as a perfect device to attempt to reproduce, as it was devoid of electronics, did not require electricity to work and would be considerably cheaper to build than more sophisticated ventilators. The report says Corbett reached out to Penlon, asking for urgent assistance for the 'South Africa Emergency Ventilator Project'. Penlon CEO Guru Krishnamoorthy responded on Tuesday: "We are currently marketing Nuffield ventilators and hence transferring all drawings etc would be difficult." He also put Corbett in touch with people who dealt with sourcing components in case Corbett planned on refurbishing old units.

Commenting on the situation, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor said the notion of Africa being at the back of the line for life-saving ventilators would be to the detriment of humanity. But, Pandor said in a News24 report that her impression from a recent virtual G20 leaders meeting, was that other countries have recognised Africa's need during the coronavirus pandemic.\

Global supply chains of ventilators, which are critical for the treatment of severely ill COVID-19 patients, are under strain to produce more machines. In countries such as the US and the UK, strategies to manufacture more ventilators include repurposing car manufacturing companies to produce ventilators.

Pandor said her impression was that there is an awareness that developing countries, and in particular least developed countries, will have to be given assistance urgently.

[link url="https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/news/2020-03-29-sa-scrambles-for-vital-supplies-to-the-fight-covid-19-surge/"]Full Sunday Times report[/link]

[link url="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/uk-company-seemingly-wont-help-sa-with-ventilators-marketed-as-simple-solution-for-coronavirus-20200329"]Full News24 report[/link]

[link url="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/putting-africa-in-back-of-queue-for-ventilators-will-be-detrimental-for-humanity-pandor-20200401"]Full News24 report[/link]

MedicalBrief — our free weekly e-newsletter

We'd appreciate as much information as possible, however only an email address is required.