The Andhra Pradesh Medi-Tech Zone (AMTZ) is getting active to produce ventilators and COVID-19 testing kits that are critical in fighting the pandemic. The Centre has already placed an order for 3,500 ventilators and assembling of the units will start from 15 April 2020.
AMTZ will start with a capacity of making 3,000 ventilators during April 2020 and scale it up to 6,000 per month from May 2020. Hindustan Lifecare (HLL) will assist in the assembly of the ventilators.
Besides, 10,000 COVID-19 testing kits will be manufactured every week and the capacity will be increased to 25,000 kits a week by May 2020. The required plant and machinery is being moved into Visakhapatnam to increase- based on demand.
Medical equipment manufacturing is a critical area that requires about 700 to 2,000 parts, most of which have to be imported from different international sources. The Indian Council of Medical Research has approved the kits to be manufactured at AMTZ while the Drug Controller General of India granted exemption from all manufacturing approvals for ventilators in view of the current crisis.
With the support of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the government of India, six companies have been selected in Phase-1. The Centre is trying for more financial support for the project to accommodate larger number of partners.
The state government, on its part, released Rs 30 crore and the Centre Rs eight crore towards equipment and other infrastructure building in AMTZ.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has come forward to extend Rs 300 crore assistance for expansion of AMTZ. Phase-2 of the project will spread over 200 acre of land and about 177 companies will set up their units to manufacture various critical medical equipment that will make India self-reliant.