There is a wide gap in the demand and provision of ventilator needed to treat COVID-19 patients. In the global pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, the lack of medical equipment is the most eye-catching. The world is experiencing an alarming shortage of ventilators, from mask to safety, to the need for life-or-death patients. Even developed countries, including the United States, are struggling to provide emergency medical equipment such as ventilators during this crisis.
The new coronavirus was not known to humans before. As a result, there may be a shortage of preparations for the drug to be used in the treatment of the person starting with the treatment. But to say so, the shortage of emergency medical equipment, such as ventilators — is truly astonishing. So many big drug companies, so powerful all the government, but what?
Before looking for the answer to the question, let us find out exactly what level of ventilator it is. US media Bloomberg reports that ventilators are ten times more demanding in the United States than Jogan. That is, there is only one ventilator, unlike ten patients who need ventilators. If this is the case in the United States, then the situation in other countries is easily conceivable.
Italy surpasses all countries in judging the death toll. The dire situation of the country is to read-only in the absence of emergency medical equipment. Better yet, Italy is in danger of not having enough ventilators to support breathing. Ventilators – This shortage crisis is now in the whole world. In the face of a situation where the US health sector is directly saying that the world now stands in the midst of a situation where multiple patients who are undergoing life-or-death mortality have to be decided, medical-related people have to decide.
But why was this crisis created? Let’s look at the United States to find the answer. The New York Times, the country’s most widely circulated newspaper, reports that a year ago, a group of US public health officials identified a plan to tackle a significant risk to the US public health system. The risk was ‘shortage of ventilators’. Those officials remarked that the ventilator that was in the United States at that time was not enough to withstand a major crisis. Because of this, they propose a plan to produce easy-to-carry and low-cost ventilators. Their proposal was passed, money was also allocated. A project called ‘Project Aura’ was adopted by the end of 20 years. The goal is to reduce the cost of producing ventilators and reduce the market value below $ 5,000.
Following the signing of the federal contract, work began accordingly. Newport is a California-based company called Newport. They also get exemptions for producing the ventilators they produce. But then he bought that small company, a large company called Covidien. They were sceptical of the profit from the project. Many medical equipment manufacturers say the production of low-cost ventilators is not a ‘top priority’ at the moment. In 2012, Newport officials asked US authorities for approval to sell their made ventilators in the market. But excludes Covidien. They said they want to keep the device priced higher when it comes to market sales. At the same time, they want more money from the government. Although the federal government eventually allocated $ 1 million, it did not work. To date, no ventilator has been produced under the project. Later in the 21st, the federal government signed a similar agreement with another company, whose ventilators, which were approved last year, have yet to be delivered to any ventilator market.
Covidien controls a significant portion of the global ventilator market. When Newport made low-cost ventilators on the market, their markets could be under threat. That’s why they are thought to buy Newport for $ 1 million. Not only did they buy Newport, but they also stopped production of a life-saving medical device while protecting the conventional ventilator market. Their goal was to stop the production of low-cost ventilators at any cost. They stayed in agreement with the US federal government until they could produce a ventilator until the second one could get into it.
The very profitable character of corporate capital is ending many such initiatives. This greed has left countries like the United States at least six years behind, which otherwise would not have been so dangerous to the United States at this time. This greed for profit has led to a terrible failure, which is now being borne by everyone. Starting from various states of the United States, the central administration is regularly taking on the ventilator. Only honest administrators have to be fearful about the future. The death of Hesse Scheffer, the German finance minister of Hesse Province (suspected of being a suicide) or the exhausted resignation of the health minister of the Netherlands – all came to the forefront as a result of uncontrolled markets and capital.
Now physicians have to decide literally who they will support and not whom they will breathe. It is facing a dire situation for medical-related people, which may have to be carried on long after the disaster is over. According to a Bloomberg report, US health experts fear that at least 500,000 ventilators may be needed for COVID-19 sufferers in the United States. But they have only two lakh ventilators in their hands.
Now the United States and Europe are paying the big disadvantage of leaving the private sector completely unmanaged in the field of health care or the production of medical equipment. In the case of life-saving equipment, fans of the free market did not think that capitalists invest in where profit comes from. They can even play a variety of games, from creating artificial crises to keeping the desired value of their products. The goal of a company is completely different than the state’s promise to protect the lives of the people. The responsibility of a government formed by people’s vote or support – protection of the people. And whatever the company’s goals or liabilities are – one more profit.
“We understand the crisis now,” said Thomas R. Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the United States and an infectious disease specialist. Maybe we can deal with it right away. But surely we will not get the ventilator we need. ‘
Thomas Frieden’s statement is certainly hopeful. But the truth is, SARS, MARS, bird flu and swine flu have similarly taken the project to produce easy-to-carry and low-cost ventilators in the United States, despite the risk of global outbreaks. Similar projects are also taken in different countries in Europe. Instead of searching for the fate of those projects, one has to be frustrated only when looking at the current outcome. Because the past epidemics were not enough to make global capital structures and governments aware. The result is a shortage of medical equipment today.
Even in this situation, the number of people who make a profit is not less. In almost all parts of the world, a category of businessmen is taking advantage of the people’s crisis. As in India, ventilator prices have risen dramatically. Even the central government’s watchdog couldn’t do anything there. Kamlesh Mouraj, business head of Delhi-based Medcam Enterprise, admits that they have raised the price of the device due to high demand. The Indian media has come out in an investigative report by India Today, one of the most profitable and disgusting behaviours of a category trader during this time of disaster.
Why ventilators alone, from special protective clothing to health workers to mask is a crisis in every case. The supply of this emergency medical equipment is much less than needed. There is, in many places, controlling the market to control the administration. Many countries around the world, including Bangladesh, have witnessed the risks posed by the unmanaged market system during the disaster. Each of the masks has been found to be sold at high prices in the domestic market. Starting from sanitizers, people have had to run from door to door to get all kinds of germs. Its price has shocked many people when it is found anywhere.
The global pandemic caused by the new coronavirus has unveiled the bad side of the free market economy to the whole world. It says that such a thing as the health sector cannot be ridden on a horse without capital. This crisis is asking us to rethink our existing economic model. This crisis is beyond recognition.