Coronavirus: UK ventilator orders still waiting on approval
No ventilators provisionally ordered by the government through its private sector call to arms have been given regulatory approval.
The government has ordered tens of thousands of mechanical ventilators, from companies such as Dyson, to add to the 10,000 already circulating in the NHS used to treat seriously ill coronavirus patients.
The orders are subject to regulatory approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), however none of companies’ designs have been given the green light, according to the Financial Times.
This is despite issuing a call to arms for manufacturers in other sectors to make ventilators in a bid to help the national effort against Covid-19.
Orders from a consortium of Formula One teams, including Renault and Red Bull, were cancelled yesterday after failing to gain final regulatory approval.
The government had provisionally ordered thousands of the model, called BlueSky, but had not paid for them.
The Cabinet Office said that “following a reassessment of the product’s viability in light of the ever developing picture around what is needed to most effectively treat Covid-19”.
It added: “We are continuing to work at unprecedented speed with a number of other manufacturers to scale up UK production of ventilators.”
Health secretary Matt Hancock said earlier this month that the UK needed at least 30,000 ventilators to treat coronavirus patients, however this estimate has been revised downward to 18,000.
Germany and the US are set to donate 80 and 200 ventilators respectively to the cause, however this still leaves the health service more than 7,700 short.
The government has an estimated 10,000 provisional orders for Dyson’s CoVent prototype ventilator and for 10,000 from defence firm Babcock International.