CEO Nguyen Tu Quang explains the delay of the ventilator project “Made in Vietnam” produced by BKAV

Tram Ho

In April 2020, BKAV CEO Nguyen Tu Quang announced for the first time that he would participate in the production of ventilators for COVID-19 patients. “In the past few days, many Bfans have asked why Bkav did not participate in the production of ventilators. Now is the time I can happily announce, Bkav has completed the plan to manufacture invasive ventilators to help treat COVID-19 patients.” Quang wrote on social networks.

Thereby, BKAV will produce two different ventilator models. The first model is PB560, designed by Medtronic (USA) that BKAV can apply for a license to manufacture. According to BKAV’s announcement at that time, the first PB560 ventilators were “expected to be released in mid-May to apply for a license for mass production from the Ministry of Health”.

CEO Nguyễn Tử Quảng lý giải sự trì trệ của dự án máy thở Made in Vietnam do BKAV sản xuất - Ảnh 1.

Ventilator PB560 based on design of Medtronic (USA)

The second ventilator model is BAC385. Unlike PB560, BAC385 was designed by BKAV in collaboration with doctors from the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases. Not stopping there, BKAV CEO also said that he would be “ready to produce non-profit ventilators for anti-epidemic purposes”.

CEO Nguyễn Tử Quảng lý giải sự trì trệ của dự án máy thở Made in Vietnam do BKAV sản xuất - Ảnh 2.

BAC385 ventilator designed by BKAV with doctors from the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases

However, after a few posts on social networks in mid-2020, Mr. Nguyen Tu Quang and BKAV suddenly “silent” about ventilators for more than a year. Quang is a very active person on social networks, but Mr. Quang does not have any new updates on this project, despite the interest of many users, especially during the COVID-19 epidemic in Vietnam. Nam has had serious developments since the end of April this year.

It was not until today, August 4, 2021, that BKAV CEO gave the latest information about ventilators manufactured by this company. Specifically, Mr. Quang said the reason for this stagnation was that the product inspection process took a long time.

“BAC385 is a medical device developed by Bkav, certified ISO 13485:2017 for the production process, issued by the General Department of Standards, Metrology and Quality. However, in order to be circulated and used, the device needs to be used. The process of continuous research and upgrading, after many months of perfecting the product, Bkav has cooperated with the inspection unit Vinacontrol, tested the technical standards Up to now, the equipment has been calibrated and PASSED.”

Mr. Quang did not forget to compare BKAV’s ventilators with products of “some other units”, giving the opinion that ventilators of “some units” are assembled on available designs and components, while BAC385 is As a result of the self-research, design and production process, it takes more time and effort. In return, BAC385 will have “domestic initiative and product cost many times cheaper”.

However, BKAV CEO did not mention PB560, a ventilator model based on an available Medtronic design that was announced last year, despite BKAV’s promise to release the first batch in May. last year).

CEO Nguyễn Tử Quảng lý giải sự trì trệ của dự án máy thở Made in Vietnam do BKAV sản xuất - Ảnh 3.

The picture of BAC385 attached by BKAV CEO to the post was taken from November 2020

Due to the delay for more than 1 year, plus the complicated development of the COVID-19 epidemic in Vietnam, BKAV has submitted an application for an emergency license to BAC385. “Hopefully the device will soon be licensed for circulation in practice,” BKAV CEO wrote.

Last year, when announcing the ventilator project, BKAV once declared that “9000 workers and 04 factories in our system are ready”. In addition to the previous statement “ready to produce non-profit ventilators” , let’s hope that BKAV’s ventilators will be promptly put into anti-epidemic purposes before the COVID-19 epidemic is extinguished in Vietnam.

Besides BKAV, another Vietnamese enterprise, Vingroup, also said it would produce ventilators for COVID-19 patients. Fortunately, Vingroup’s ventilator production process did not experience stagnation like BKAV, when as early as August last year, Vingroup donated 3,000 ventilators to the Ministry of Health. Recently, Vingroup also donated 500,000 vials of Remdesivir, capable of supporting treatment for about 80,000 to 100,000 COVID-19 patients in Vietnam.

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Source : Genk