JOIN USCoronavirus: ICF to open up its factory to produce ventilators
Integral Coach Factory (ICF), which produced some of the best train coaches that chug along the vast railway tracks in the country, will open its vast premises in this metropolis for manufacturing ventilators to meet the growing demand for the breathing apparatus in times of COVID-19.
A week after the Railway Board asked production units under it to explore opportunities to manufacture essential items that can be utilised to treat people during the current pandemic, the ICF on Thursday expressed its interest to explore possibilities of collaborating with established ventilator manufacturers.
The railway coach-making unit on Thursday invited Expression of Interest (EoI) from ventilator manufactures for using its vast premises and already available facilities to produce more ventilators to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. It also asked the manufacturers to submit bids by April 5 for consideration.
Officials at the ICF said since the factory has machinery and plant infrastructure ready, it was decided to collaborate with ventilator manufacturers to produce the apparatus to meet the shortage. Likewise, other coach factories are exploring opportunities to manufacture other medical equipment.
“We have decided to collaborate with ventilator manufacturers to open up our facility for them to produce the devices. We will provide machinery, plant and infrastructure to them and they can use the facility to manufacture ventilators here. We have invited bids from manufacturers,” an official with the ICF told DH.
India has just about 1 lakh ventilators and the governments at the Centre and states are stepping up their efforts to push the number up. Various multi-national companies and Indian conglomerate have promised to import or buy ventilators for state governments for use in hospitals that would need more such devices if the situation arising out of COVID-19 worsens.
The ICF had earlier produced a prototype using ‘reverse engineering’ but it seems to have failed. The list of machinery available with the ICF has been uploaded on its website for manufacturers to take a call.
While ICF is looking at manufacturing ventilators, the Railway Workshop in Ponmalai in Tiruchirappalli has manufactured 80 steel cots for Railway hospital in Ponmalai and Southern Railway Headquarters Hospital in Chennai in just a few days.