Nigerian auto manufacturer, Innoson has joined a growing list of automobile companies who expressed intention to repurpose their manufacturing plants
Nigerian auto manufacturer, Innoson has joined a growing list of automobile companies who expressed intention to repurpose their manufacturing plants to produce medical equipment across the world in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The company said that it was ready to convert its assembly lines to start producing critical medical equipment that may be in short supply as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic, PremiumTimes is reporting.
A shortage of ventilators and other critical equipment has become a growing concern amidst rising cases of COVID-19 across the world.
“Innoson Motors is ready to assist the government in any way we can, including the likability of converting out lines to produce ventilators and other equipment. But we need the government or other health institutions to place orders the quantity that may be required before we could take any step,” Cornel Osigwe, the company’s spokesperson, said.
General Motors and Rolls Royce, major vehicle manufacturers in the United States and United Kingdom, respectively, have publicly disclosed that they could produce ventilators and other equipment. But while many agreed that it was possible to retool a vehicle assembly line for production of ventilators, some medical equipment experts have warned that it might be several months before any results become useful.
Nigeria is widely believed to be under-testing the number of COVID-19 carriers within its population. Less than 200 people are believed to have been tested, a grossly inadequate figure against the country’s nearly 200 million people. Officials have admitted shortages of testing equipment, with many placing significant hope on the arrival of a consignment of testing kits and personal protective equipment from Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma.
But there are also concerns that some elderly and other immunosuppressed patients who may lose the ability to breathe on their own would not get a ventilator, a computerised unit that pumps air in and out of the lungs.
