There are more than 300,000 new cases in India for several days. On average, nearly four Indians are infected with the new crown virus every second. News that the cumulative number of deaths exceeds 280,000 has become a hot topic in recent days.
The dead bodies in India are piled up into mountains, and the firewood in the crematorium is in short supply. The deceased had to be cremated in the open air in the park. The "India Express" estimates that the epidemic will reach its peak in mid-May, when there will be about 500,000 new cases every day.
01
"Unable to breathe" new crown patients
We know that patients infected with new coronary pneumonia will have respiratory symptoms, severely ill patients will have respiratory distress, and critically ill patients will have respiratory failure, and multiple organ failure caused by hypoxia will occur. To ensure the supply of oxygen to the brain and organs, the support of breathing equipment such as oxygen cylinders and ventilators must be obtained.
However, during the epidemic storm, the surge of patients directly penetrated India's medical system.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that in northern India, some hospitals put up a "no oxygen supply" sign outside their doors. People on the street panted like "fish out of the water", "Without access to oxygen, people die on the road."
02
India hypoxia
In the epidemic, up to the elderly, down to young patients as young as 22 years old, need to maintain their lives through oxygen inhalation, and about 17% of new crown patients also need to use ventilator-assisted treatment.
For India, the difficulty of oxygen supply mainly comes from transshipment rather than production capacity. Insufficient oxygen tanks, slow oxygen filling rate, and poor traffic conditions are the key factors leading to the lack of oxygen in India.
The continued shortage of oxygen has caused the price of oxygen tanks on the local black market to skyrocket. It is said that the current black market price of a bottle of oxygen has soared to US$600, while the per capita national income of India is only US$2,120.
03
In the epidemic, why are China, the United States and India lacking the same?
Perhaps you have noticed that during the Wuhan epidemic, China lacked artificial lungs (ECMO). What is lacking in the US epidemic is ventilators. Why is India hypoxic?
This is because at the peak of the epidemic, my country's ventilator companies overcame the difficulty of shortage of raw materials and operated to the limit, producing 28,000 ventilators, which basically met domestic demand.
At present, there are only 5 companies in the world that can produce artificial lungs, of which 2 are in the United States, 2 are in Germany, and 1 is in Japan. Without exception, these five companies have monopolized artificial lung technology as the core top-secret technology. Unable to produce on their own, they will inevitably face shortages.
As far as the United States is concerned, there are two companies that can produce artificial lungs in the United States. In addition, the use of artificial lungs is limited to severely ill patients, so its shortage is not prominent.
Even more difficult is the capacity of the ventilator.
Before the emergence of the new crown epidemic, it was a very unpopular medical device. It was usually equipped only in the respiratory medicine department and ICU intensive care unit of large hospitals. The hospital will only purchase a dozen units at most. The market is too small, so the overall production capacity of the industry has been low all year round.
After the outbreak, there was a severe shortage of ventilators in the United States. Automobile companies such as General Motors tried to switch to ventilators. Although some of the ventilation components of the two have similarities, the requirements for the production environment, production process, raw materials and workers are quite different. Furthermore, many raw materials and parts for the production of ventilators in the United States have to be imported from China. Production efficiency is further pulled down. Caused a shortage of ventilators.
The oxygen supply for India's burning eyebrows is not a problem for the two major industrial countries in China and the United States, whether it is production or transportation.
To put it simply, according to the development of the condition of patients with new coronary disease, the general procedure is to start with oxygen, then on the ventilator, and then to the artificial lung. The reason why India is hypoxic is because it cannot even guarantee basic oxygen inhalation.
It is precisely because of the differences in shortcomings that what is lacking in the epidemics in China, the United States and India are different.
04
Chinese medical equipment goes to the world
The safety of medical devices is often closely related to life. Of course it is also expensive. For a long time, domestic companies were only responsible for the basic production links, and the profitable R&D and sales links were monopolized by foreign companies.
However, during the epidemic, China still supplied critical medical equipment and supplies to the world. This is the time for the rectification of Chinese medical equipment.
The good news is news from Shandong University this month that the domestic artificial lung prototype has achieved trouble-free operation for more than 30 days. All indicators have reached international standards. If it is put into production in the future, the gap between the domestic artificial lung and the foreign level will be almost equal.
It can be seen that more and more companies, experts, and engineers are investing in it. my country's medical research and development is being further improved. In the future, there will be more equipment and more equipment that may realize autonomy. It will not only improve my country's medical standards, but also serve the health of all mankind.
