LOCAL production of bridge ventilators for the Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP) is in full swing at ESG Medical Equipment’s manufacturing facility in Johannesburg.
Gavin Pelser CEO, Engineering Solutions Group (ESG) said African and global philanthropists had teamed up with local businesses, to help secure urgently needed ventilators, breathing support devices and other medical equipment, that will assist the people of Africa in the fight against the coronavirus.
“The ESG Medical Equipment team is working closely with engineers from Virgin Orbit and Virgin Galactic, to produce high quality bridge ventilators, using locally-sourced materials and components. The design of these ventilators was provided by Virgin Orbit for this initiative at no cost, as part of the Virgin Group’s philanthropic efforts during the COVID-19 crisis, to help flatten the curve in Africa.”
Pelser said these ventilators – along with other medical equipment and PPE – are available from the African Union’s (AU) online pool procurement platform, AMSP. The initiative was established to enable easy procurement, co-ordination and distribution of medical supplies for all AU member nations.
“This venture is a perfect example of how effective teamwork can be. And in this case, when over 1.2 billion lives in Africa are vulnerable, a co-ordinated effort to combat the pandemic, is even more critical. Our team is proud to be part of this programme and to work with the finest business leaders and world-class engineers.”
ESG Medical Equipment will soon produce Oxygen helmets, also based on the free design from Virgin Orbit. These Oxygen helmets are critical to help open up the alveoli in infected lungs and delay or prevent Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in those suffering the effects of COVID-19.
