PHOTO
* Only fraction of Japan's ventilators used on COVID-19patients
* Ventilator makers struggle to buy more parts from overseas
* Japan may not have enough doctors, nurses for newventilators
By Tim Kelly and Maki Shiraki
TOKYO, May 21 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abehas pledged to build 2,000 new ventilators for coronaviruspatients that even the government says hospitals are unlikely toneed.
Instead, the plan, announced in April, appears to be moreabout bringing home manufacturing of equipment seen as key tothe country's national security, a long-held focus for theJapanese premier that has deepened with the coronavirus crisis.
Abe wants Japanese companies to build 2,000 ventilators toadd to an unused stock of 4,700 already in hospitals. A further8,300 are deployed in critical care units, of which only afraction are used to keep COVID-19 patients alive.
But even the health ministry acknowledges that hospitals,which now buy almost all their ventilators overseas, likely haveenough, while industry experts say Japan's smallventilator-makers will struggle to produce more than the fewdozen a month they usually build.
"It is probably more than Japan needs now," said AkihisaMaeda, an official at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labourwho is responsible for medical device policy, about the numberof ventilators. "It is true there aren't enough qualified peopleto operate them."
Abe's plan shows how the coronavirus crisis is spurringpolitical concern about the potential vulnerability of overseassupply lines. Japan is also offering firms money to shiftproduction of face masks and other products from China.
Japan needs to cut dependence on imports from the UnitedStates, Europe and China, said the health ministry's Maeda.
"It's a matter of national security. The coronavirusoutbreak has shown that."
Ventilators are used to inflate the fluid-filled lungs ofcritically ill COVID-19 patients through a tube inserted intothe windpipe, and require constant monitoring.
Yet so far, only around 5% of seriously ill COVID-19patients in Japan need the procedure known as intubation, apanel of experts has said. In early May there were 4,500hospitalised cases, meaning roughly 270 were on ventilators. InJapan just under 800 people have died.
"It's like building fighter jets without having pilots," aleading intensive care specialist said about the government'splan. Every new ventilator needs health professionals who are inshort supply, he said, asking not to be identified.
The Japan Society of Respiratory Care also said there areenough ventilators, barring a major coronavirus surge.
CATS AND DOGS
Ventilator makers require technicians to ramp up production,but even with additional manpower, they still need to findcomponents overseas amid strong international demand.
"My first thought was, it's going to be tough to get theparts," said Akikazu Endo, sales and marketing manager atventilator maker Sanko Manufacturing, about the government'splan.
At its small plant next to a vegetable field an hour bytrain from Tokyo, Sanko is making coronavirus ventilators withparts from human anaesthesia machines and ventilators designedfor cats and dogs.
It usually hand builds around 30 ventilators a year, andinitially proposed to build 300. It later scaled that back to50.
Sanko buys electronic boards from China and will have towait as long as six months for more, Endo said. Ministry ofEconomy, Trade and Industry officials, who visited Sanko,connected it with a Japanese company that can build the samepart, but conducting tests will take time and money, he said.
"We can't be in a situation where we run out ofventilators," a METI official told Reuters.
Nihon Kohden, which builds 30 ventilators a month, is aimingto manufacture 1,000 within six months. It is still in talks tosecure parts, a spokeswoman said.
'RISKY MARKET'
Given the parts shortage, Abe has asked Toyota Motor Corp
Unlike U.S. President Donald Trump, who has invoked KoreanWar-era laws to compel manufacturers to build some 200,000ventilators, Abe's more modest 2,000-target faces hurdlesbecause he can't force Japanese companies to cooperate.
"Companies tend to see ventilators and other invasivemedical devices as too much of a gamble," an official at theJapan Association of Medical Devices Industries said.
Speaking as head of the Japan auto industry lobby, Toyotapresident Akio Toyoda said automakers wanted to take a back seatby providing manufacturing know-how, saying it was "not easy" tomake products that so directly affect human life.
An auto executive told Reuters the industry had otherconcerns.
"We are willing to cooperate, but it's a small and riskymarket," the executive said, asking not to be identified.
A Sony spokesman said it won't be responsible for ventilatordesign or development. Nissan said nothing had been decided.
The health ministry's Maeda said there's no deadline forJapan Inc to deliver.
"Our aim is to achieve a balance between imports and thosemade locally."
(Reporting by Tim Kelly and Maki Shiraki; additional reportingby Naomi Tajitsu; Editing by David Dolan & Shri Navaratnam) ((tim.kelly@thomsonreuters.com; +813-6441-1311;))
