Local medical equipment suppliers are soon to build a prototype of a ventilator to treat COVID-19 patients, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said yesterday.
Funding for the Ministry of Economic Affairs initiative is estimated at NT$50 million (US$1.67 million), which would come from the government’s expanded special budget that provides the ministry with an additional NT$77.44 billion, a report submitted to the legislature’s Finance Committee showed.
The ventilator, to be used for treating COVID-19 patients in a serious or critical condition, would be developed by local manufacturers based on a design by US medical device company Medtronic PLC, Shen told reporters prior to a committee meeting in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
Seeking to help nations combat the coronavirus, Medtronic last month publicly shared the design specifications of its Puritan Bennett 560 (PB560), a ventilator suited for a rapid manufacturing process.
“About 100 samples are to be built shortly, which would then be tested and certified,” Shen said, declining to give a more detailed time line.
Demand for ventilators for critically ill patients is high amid the global spread of the disease, making the domestic production of the devices an imminent need, as most manufacturers are in Europe and the US, Shen said.
Taiwanese manufacturers mainly produce positive-pressure ventilators for people with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, while ventilators for critically ill patients are imported.
The project is headed by the government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院), the ministry said.
“Our engineers are working on building a prototype along with local companies specializing in machinery sensors and components, as well as systems integration,” an institute official told the Taipei Times by telephone.
The official declined to confirm whether the ventilators would be based on Medtronic’s PB560.
The institute expects to hold a news conference next week to showcase the prototype, the official said.
Additional reporting by CNA
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
‘MISGUIDED EDICT’: Two US representatives warned that Somalia’s passport move could result in severe retaliatory consequences and urged it to reverse its decision Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has ordered that a special project be launched to counter China’s “legal warfare” distorting UN Resolution 2758, a foreign affairs official said yesterday. Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday cited UN Resolution 2758 and Mogadishu’s compliance with the “one China” principle as it banned people from entering or transiting in the African nation using Taiwanese passports or other Taiwanese travel documents. The International Air Transport Association’s system shows that Taiwanese passport holders cannot enter Somalia or transit there. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested the move and warned Taiwanese against traveling to Somalia or Somaliland
RSS