Several types of ventilators may have restrictions. The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed a ban on government purchases of foreign-made artificial lung ventilation (ALV) equipment. The ministry cites the need to support Russian companies, which it says are ready to meet the needs of the healthcare system.
The government has proposed to expand the list of foreign equipment banned from public procurement. It is proposed to add “respiratory resuscitation devices” to the list. Seven domestic manufacturers produce such devices.
“Restrictions can be applied only if there is an alternative solution of comparable quality and effect, and should apply only to products that are successfully produced in series in Russia,” said Vasily Osmakov, First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade. “If the product does not meet the customer’s requirements, it is possible to obtain permission to purchase the relevant imported equipment.” Devices used for home lung ventilation will not be included in the list of prohibited devices.
The draft resolution must go through coordination procedures, after which it will be sent for review to federal agencies, including the Ministry of Health. According to the data of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, cited by Vademecum publication, the volume of the market for ventilators in state procurement in 2022 amounted to 2.3 thousand ventilators, while in 2021 it was 4.1 thousand devices.
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Currently, the “second extra” rule applies to the purchase of mechanical ventilation equipment. It means that if there is at least one offer to supply medical equipment from Russia or countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia), the customer is obliged to reject offers to participate in the procurement of imported products. The main manufacturers of mechanical ventilation (MV) in Russia are currently AO “KRET” of Rostec State Corporation and Triton Electronics LLC.
According to the explanatory note to the draft resolution, together they supply over 35% of IVL devices to the Russian market and have the capacity to produce up to 36,000 units per year. However, the annual demand for IVL equipment for state and municipal needs is estimated at 2,700 units.
One of the most popular ventilators of Russian production, “Aventa-M”, was produced by the “KRЭТ” concern. During the pandemic, Russian hospitals made massive purchases of these devices. As reported by the BBC, by mid-July 2020, more than 10,000 of these devices were purchased, and the total number of concluded contracts for their purchase was about 20,000.
The Vice-President of the Human Rights Council, Irina Kirkora, spoke out against the initiative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. She criticized the proposal for not involving patient organizations in its development. “The Ministry of Industry and Trade says that this will support domestic manufacturers,” she wrote on her Telegram channel, “and this is an essential part of Russian sovereignty, but who will guarantee the safety of our children’s lives?”
In May 2020, fires occurred in two hospitals – S.I. Spasokukotsky City Clinical Hospital in Moscow and St. George Hospital in St. Petersburg – as a result of a short circuit in “Aventa-M” ventilators. As a result, six people died – patients with coronavirus infection who were connected to the devices. Then Roszdravnadzor introduced a temporary ban on the use of ventilators “Aventa-M” produced after April 1, 2020.
The doctors interviewed by BBC called the machine “average” and noted that it is difficult to say anything definite about the quality of the device when working with it. “All necessary modes are available, even more than necessary. They have done everything that needs to be done programmatically,” said the Chairman of the Committee on Respiratory Support (Mechanical Ventilation) of the Federation of Anesthesiologists and Intensive Care Physicians, Andrey Yaroshetsky. “However, the most important and expensive part of the device that works mechanically, such as valves, pneumatic systems, as well as the coupling of electronics and mechanics, is not implemented well enough to perform prolonged and high-quality mechanical ventilation of critically ill patients.”
The leaders of Russian charitable foundations, including “Live Now,” “Faith,” “House with a Lighthouse,” and “AdVita,” also spoke out against the ban on the purchase of foreign ventilators. The publication “Medvestnik” reported that on July 6 they sent a letter to the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, asking him to stop the adoption of the resolution. In recent years, NGOs have repeatedly appealed to Russian manufacturers to provide domestic ventilators for testing. However, no company has responded to these appeals, according to the letter. “Some equipment can only be purchased from foreign manufacturers,” the authors of the statement point out. The proposed ban could deprive citizens with palliative status or disabilities of support.