Technology company Philips has today delivered 100 respirators to the Ministry of Health. Made in the US, along with 100 patient monitoring systems, they are the first part of a major order placed by the Department. The surveillance equipment was already delivered from Germany yesterday.
The devices are necessary to turn an ordinary hospital bed into an intensive care bed. The total order includes 1,000 breathing and monitoring systems. The other 900 will be delivered in the coming weeks and months, Philips says.
Trainings
VWS will now distribute the supplied devices among Dutch hospitals. Philips will provide training to nurses to work with the equipment.
The Netherlands wants to increase IC capacity as much as possible. A peak in corona patients is expected in the coming days, while the number of beds still available on the ICs is decreasing.
Philips reports that the company is increasing production of respirators and patient monitoring systems. “Our colleagues in the US and Germany work around the clock,” says CEO Henk Valk of Philips Benelux.
Need more
Minister Van Rijn of Medical Care is pleased with the delivery of the first devices. “But we are not there yet, because there is a great need for more equipment. Follow-up deliveries must also come to the Netherlands as soon as possible.”
The Netherlands is not the only country urgently looking for medical equipment to increase IC capacity. Nevertheless, Philips assumes that it can supply the other 900 systems. Production has now ramped up to 1,000 ventilators a week, and the target is 2,000 a week in two months, a spokesman said.
US government
Because the factories are located in the US, there is a possibility that the US government may claim all production for that country. President Trump passed a 1950 law last week that makes it possible to promote medical equipment manufactured in America.
Recently, pressure has been discussed with Washington and other countries with protectionist measures. “Our factories are located in the US, but that respiratory equipment consists of components from all over the world. We are in constant consultation with a variety of governments.”
Philips says it is confident that equipment can be delivered all over the world. It is the turn of countries that need the items most.
Ernst Kuiper, CEO of the Erasmus University Center and chairman of the National Network Acute Care (LNAZ), calls it a “huge job.” “We work closely together to try to make a difference for many corona patients.”
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