Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


New York Begins Manufacturing Low-Cost Ventilator

Steve Baragona

   The first run of a new, low-cost ventilator is coming off the assembly
   line in New York City.

   With COVID-19 raising concerns about a shortage of breathing machines
   for critically ill patients, the city turned to home-grown industries
   to try to fill in the gap.

   Full-featured ventilators cost tens of thousands of dollars, but these
   stripped-down devices can be manufactured for a few thousand. They
   could be especially valuable in developing-world countries without the
   resources for expensive equipment.

   As death rates in New York rose exponentially in March, state officials
   feared they would need many more ventilators. They saw what happened in
   [1]Italy, where shortages forced doctors to make difficult decisions
   about who received access to this potentially life-saving equipment.

   The federal government gave New York some assistance, but Gov. Andrew
   Cuomo said it fell far short.

   "What are we going to do with 400 ventilators when we need 30,000?" he
   told reporters on March 24.

   Necessity breeds invention

   New York City decided to take matters into its own hands, said James
   Patchett, president and CEO of New York City Economic Development
   Corporation (NYCEDC).

   "The mayor called and made it very clear that we need to focus on
   making ventilators and anything else we could in New York City," he
   said. "The supply chain was just not reliable and that we had to do
   what we could to rely on New Yorkers."

References

   1. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2005492

.