Coronavirus: Japan’s bid to ramp up ventilator production at risk of being held up by red tape
- Plans for carmakers to start building the vital medical equipment appear to have been shelved amid approval processes that can take up to five months
- Japan is also trying to increase production of ECMO machines, which support heart and lung functions when coronavirus cases are in intensive care
On Thursday, the country of 127 million reported 265 new cases, bringing its total infections to 5,200, according to broadcaster NHK. About 30 per cent of them are in the capital Tokyo, which along with six other prefectures, is under a state of emergency that has most commercial businesses except essential services closed or with employees working from home.
However, a plan to get Japan’s carmakers to produce the devices appears to have been shelved. While a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry spokesperson told This Week in Asia it was in discussions with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to get companies, including carmakers, to start building ventilators, it first needed approval from the health ministry.
The two-stage process for approving complex medical devices can take up to five months.
Professor Kazuhiro Tateda of Tokyo’s Toho University Omori Medical Centre, a member of the expert panel advising the government on the outbreak, said approvals usually took time “but we hope they will change that as this is a crisis”.
There have been reports of ventilators for animals being repurposed to treat human patients, but Tateda, who is also president of the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, believes this is unlikely to happen.
