A medical equipment firm has 300 ventilators ready to be sent to Covid-ravaged India – but it will take more than two years to get the necessary paperwork.
Lancashire-based NorVap responded to the Prime Minister’s Ventilator Challenge last March, but its machines were never bought.
Now they cannot be exported to countries in desperate need, such as India, unless they have certification from a UK-approved standards body.
The MHRA closed its applications for emergency approvals as soon as the UK’s “exceptional” demand for ventilators had been met
The normal application process can take more than two years.
NorVap’s managing director Elisabeth JohnstonHale said: “There are people dying because they don’t have ventilators and it is just really, really difficult to watch that, knowing we are sitting on stock.
"All we are asking is that the government consider a pathway to allow companies like ours to gain emergency accreditation.”
A Government spokeswoman said: “All potential orders were contingent on the devices passing the MHRA’s strict regulatory standards, and some devices did not meet these at the time. ”
Scores of hospitals across India are buckling under the strain of Covid. More than 16 million cases have already been recorded in the country, with the overall virus death toll topping 186,000.
Independent SAGE is demanding the PM send supplies of oxygen to India and lift patent restrictions so the subcontinent can make more vaccines.
Spokesman Dr Kit Yates said: “Just remember, nowhere is safe until everywhere is safe.”
