A ventilator produced by Beijing Aerospace Changfeng Co is seen in a hospital in Xiaogan, Central China's Hubei Province. Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Aerospace Changfeng Co

Domestic ventilator makers are going all-out to add capacity and deliveries to hospitals, in a bid to meet surging demand amid recent waves of COVID-19 cases.

Beijing Aerospace Changfeng Co, a state-owned enterprise, said that it has provided safe, reliable and reasonably priced respiratory products to domestic users, as the company broke the monopoly of imported ventilators. 

"Many employees set up beds next to the factory, going all-out from production and assembly to labeling, in a bid to ensure the supply of medical treatment resources," Hou Yunlong, general manager of the medical devices branch of the enterprise, told the Global Times.

"We will continue to increase after-sale services and personnel investment in grassroots hospitals, and enhance the training of front-line medical workers so that the respiratory equipment better serves the grassroots," Hou added.

Ventilators are crucial for critically ill patients in the ICU. To a certain extent, a ventilator replaces the function of the lungs to help the patient to ventilate, and delivers high concentrations of oxygen and air into the patient's body, helping them to breathe and maintain a normal respiratory rhythm.

An industry insider told the Global Times that ventilators can buy valuable time for clinical treatment and virus eradication for the ill.

Chinese ventilator makers demonstrated strong production capacity at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020.

Xu Kemin, a senior official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a press conference in March 2020 that the country had a total of 21 producers of invasive ventilators, eight of which had a weekly production capacity of about 2,200 units, accounting for 20 percent of global production capacity.

Xu noted that a respirator has thousands of parts, and the main suppliers are not only in China but also abroad, including in Europe. Due to the pandemic, it was not easy to ramp up production quickly.

Faced with problems in the global industry chain, major domestic ventilator makers started to reorganize supply chains, seek alternative suppliers in the domestic market and improve production technology. 

For instance, Beijing Aerospace Changfeng said it focused on the localization of its critical care ventilator after 2020, and it completed the layout of the product line after obtaining registration certificates for two other types of ventilators.

The company has delivered ventilators to customers in Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang and other county-level hospitals.

Recently, some provinces across China including Guangdong, Sichuan and Gansu have announced plans to procure equipment to expand critical care resources, including ventilators.

According to the announcement by the National Health Commission that downgraded COVID-19 to Class B management on December 26, 2022, the administration vowed to increase investment in medical resources, focusing on the supply of respiratory therapy devices, ventilators and other critical care equipment.

Recently, some provinces across China including Guangdong, Sichuan and Gansu have announced plans to procure equipment to expand critical care resources, including ventilators.

According to the announcement by the National Health Commission that downgraded COVID-19 to Class B management on December 26, 2022, the administration vowed to increase investment in medical resources, focusing on the supply of respiratory therapy devices, ventilators and other critical care equipment.