It continues to be all hands on deck when it comes to getting more ventilators for Canada’s health care system.
Navdeep Bains is the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and says that in order to do that, they’ve put together an evaluation panel to expedite the production of Made in Canada ventilators.
“This panel is comprised of health specialists, medical practitioners who have treated COVID-19 patients,” says Bains, “…engineers, manufacturing specialists and government officials.”
He explains that they’re also working with a Nobel Prize-winning scientist to develop a brand new ventilator.
“We’re working with Doctor Art MacDonald, who is leading a team of scientists to develop an easy to produce ventilator using off the shelf, accessible parts.”
Bains adds that the goal is to develop a ventilator model that is fit for current needs, and that can be built quickly and reliably in Canada.
In addition to ventilators, he tells us that they’re also looking at the re-purposing of materials to make personal protective equipment.
“It turns out, some materials used for construction house wrap and car airbags can be re-purposed for medical-grade gowns. To leverage this Canadian innovation, we’re linking up producers of these materials with manufacturers.”
Some of the manufacturers helping out to produce millions of Made-In-Canada gowns are Stanfields and Canada Goose.
