Metran, a Japanese medical equipment company founded by a Vietnamese-Japanese inventor, is expected to produce much-needed 15,000 ventilators for the Vietnamese market, of which 2,000 ones will be transferred in the first phase to support Covid-19 prevention, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Tran Ngoc Phuc (left), the founder of Metran medical equipment company which is based in Japan. Photo: Thanh Tung

Metran is specialized in manufacturing artificial respirators in Japan. Its founder cum CEO Tran Ngoc Phuc said that Metran is expected to cooperate with a Vietnamese partner to produce ventilators in the Southeast Asian country. The company will share its patent on the ventilator with this partner.

However, Metran is currently facing two issues for mass production, said Phuc. The first one is supply of components, especially some of the most important components in the ventilator such as flow sensor and pressure sensor.

The other one is the human resources for assembling ventilators. Metran currently has a factory which manufactures medical equipment in Vietnam.

If parts supply constraints are resolved, Metran is expected to produce between 5,000 and 10,000 ventilators per month. In the first month, the company plans to produce between 1,000 and 2,000 ventilators.

As President of the Vietnamese Association in Japan, Tran Ngoc Phuc said that his association has provided online information about the Covid-19 pandemic to Vietnamese people in Japan and will strive to support any Vietnamese infected with the coronavirus.

However, the association is facing financial difficulties and desperately needs help from philanthropists, Phuc said.