In a bid to push domestic manufacturers to increase the production of ventilators -- machines vital for treating patients with serious symptoms of the novel coronavirus -- the government is coordinating efforts to get domestic manufacturers and others to increase their production.
Amid explosive increases in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in major cities around the world, countries including the United States, United Kingdom and Germany have taken measures to increase the production of ventilators. Japan will also expedite its efforts to improve medical service systems to save the lives of seriously ill patients.
Regarding ventilators, Economic Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters in Tokyo on Sunday: "In preparation for an emergency, we are coordinating views as to whether the production of ventilators can be increased. As we hope to secure as many ventilators as possible, we would like to adjust our views properly to this end." Concerning specific companies to which the government will request an increase in production, Nishimura said, "[They are] still being coordinated."
While requesting companies to boost production of facial masks in connection with their shortages, the government has also established a system to subsidize plant and equipment investments to raise the production of masks. An idea to apply similar measures for increasing the production of ventilators has emerged within the government.
It is believed that domestic manufacturers now have about 4,000 to 5,000 ventilators in stock; the government is considering buying them all.
Even if infected with the new coronavirus, about 80% of patients would be diagnosed as mild cases. Yet about 5% of them would be expected to become seriously ill, and such a risk among the elderly and those with underlying diseases runs high. As the treatment of those seriously ill cases needs to be prioritized, the securing of ventilators will become crucial.
According to the Japanese Society of Respiratory Care Medicine and Japan Association for Clinical Engineers, the number of ventilators in Japan as of February totaled at least 22,254, with about 10,000 of them now in operation for treatments of other illnesses. Given the developing situation, this number is not seen as sufficient should an explosive increase in the number of patients occur in the nation.
As a matter of fact, in some foreign countries, there is a possibility that medical service systems could collapse due to shortages of ventilators, prompting authorities to expedite their efforts to prevent such a possibility.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday invoked the Defense Production Act, ordering automaker General Motors to produce ventilators. With the act, the president is authorized to request private-sector companies to preferentially produce important goods. In Britain and Germany as well, efforts to implement emergency production of ventilators are under way at automakers and home appliance manufacturers.
A ventilator is a machine that provides mechanical ventilation for a patient by delivering oxygen to the lungs in the event they become unable to breathe by themselves. There are facial mask-type ones and those that deliver oxygen using a tube inserted through a hole opened in the patient's throat. If a ventilator alone can no longer sustain a patient with a serious respiratory condition, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is used; this technique that provides prolonged respiratory support by removing blood from the patient's body and artificially oxygenating red blood cells before returning it to the body.
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