Centre decides to allow export of indigenous ventilators as COVID-19 fatality rate falls to 2.15 pc

New Delhi: The government on Tuesday freed the export of ventilators after a high-level group of ministers (GoM) on Covid-19 on Saturday agreed to a proposal by the health and family welfare ministry to allow the export of indigenously manufactured ventilators.
“All ventilators including any artificial respiratory apparatus or oxygen therapy apparatus or any other breathing appliance/device are made ‘free’ for export,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.

A prohibition/restriction on the export of ventilators was imposed in March to ensure domestic availability of the machines to effectively fight Covid-19.

The health ministry had said that fewer numbers of active cases are on ventilators and there is a “progressively declining low rate of case fatality of Covid-19 patients, which currently stands at 2.15%”.

As on July 31, 0.22% of the active cases were on ventilators across the country. Additionally, there has been substantial growth in the domestic manufacturing capacity of ventilators. Compared to January 2020, there are presently more than 20 domestic manufacturers for ventilators, it said.