British engineer Babcock International said on Wednesday it had joined forces with a leading medical equipment company to design and supply thousands of critical care ventilators to Britain's publicly funded health service.
"Babcock has joined forces with a leading medical equipment company to design, manufacture and supply thousands of critical care ventilators for the NHS in response to the government’s urgent request for help from industry," the company said in a statement.
Babcock did not name the other company involved but said it had also been working with London’s Royal Brompton Hospital and other clinical experts in the field.
"With the race against time to save lives, a fully functional prototype with the focus on simplified ventilation principles and thereby fewer parts has been created in a matter of days, whilst meeting strict clinical requirements," the statement said.
(Reporting by Kate Holton, writing by William James; editing by Stephen Addison)
