Demand for a wide range of medical supplies, from ventilators and protective suits to testing kits and key drugs, is being met in Hubei province, epicenter of the novel coronavirus epidemic, the country’s top industry regulator and health authority said at a recent press briefing by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council.

Negative pressure ambulances are ready for delivery. (Photo/Chinanews.com)

The country has adopted several approaches to achieve this, including organizing enterprises to resume production, pooling resources nationwide, asking for social donations and international procurement to ensure the supply of large non-invasive ventilators, high-flow oxygen machines, ECMO and other equipment for treating critically ill patients.

China has delivered 67 ECMOs, a lifesaving machine that provides heart-lung bypass support outside the body for critical cases, to Hubei.

Within 15 hours of the request being made, 16 ECMO machines made in Germany had arrived in Wuhan, capital of the province.

Luo Junjie, an official with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that China is paying close attention to the use of ECMO machines and will increase global procurement of the machine to boost treatment of severe cases in Wuhan.

Luo added that the country has also organized domestic key manufacturers to ramp up production of negative pressure ambulances to meet demand on the frontline. So far, over 2,000 negative pressure ambulances have been produced. By March 3, 690 negative pressure ambulances had been delivered to 17 cities in Hubei.

Meanwhile, the shortage of protective suits, one of the greatest concerns at the start of the outbreak, has now been addressed.

After an acute shortage at the beginning of the outbreak, overall supply of protective suits is now meeting demand, said Cao Xuejun, deputy director of the ministry’s consumer products industry department, adding that the ministry is now able to send as many as 250,000 protective suits to Hubei, exceeding regional demand for over a dozen days.

The ministry is also encouraging domestic protective suit makers to actively catch up with orders from overseas, export their products in accordance with relevant regulations and make contributions to the global fight against the virus.