Johannesburg - Defy, southern Africa’s largest manufacturer and distributor of domestic appliances, has turned its focus to producing ventilators to help deal with the Covid-19 crisis in the region.
The initiative forms part of the National Ventilator Project, as the world battles to keep up with the demand for ventilators to treat patients of the virus who suffer respiratory distress.
South Africa has around 6000 ventilators available in public and private hospitals, and the government has called for additional supplies.
Defy is working with other key players to finalise a design that can be industrialised for mass production, and the target is to have an additional 10000 ventilators by June.
The prototoype design consists of components Defy uses in the everyday production of core appliances, which will fast-track production.