Nocca Robotics sees 20-25 times jump in demand for Covid ventilators, seeks Centre's help

Startup firm Nocca Robotics saw a 20-25 fold jump in demand for Covid ventilators last week and requested the government to ease norms to procure components required for making the equipment.Nocca Robotics co-founder Nikhil Kurele said that demand has started coming in for the last one week and no one is ready to match the scale.

Startup firm Nocca Robotics saw a 20-25 fold jump in demand for Covid ventilators last week and requested the government to ease norms to procure components required for making the equipment.

Nocca Robotics co-founder Nikhil Kurele said that demand has started coming in for the last one week and no one is ready to match the scale. ''Till February, we were supplying 70 (ventilators). Now we have been approached for around 1,500 ventilators but we have not accepted the orders. Our infrastructure can support production of 60-70 ventilators per month. We are now rapidly scaling up,'' Kurele said.

He said that there are certain components that the company procures from the US and Europe and even component suppliers were not ready for this kind of demand. ''We are rushing for components and would like to request the central government to align their respective departments as was the case in phase 1 so that we can procure components easily,'' Kurele said.

He said that in the last 12 days it stretched its facilities and was able to supply 230 ventilators to various hospitals in Pune Municipal Corporation, Gujarat, some hospitals in North and South.

The startup firm, which has developed low cost COVID-19 specialised ventilator, said the device is priced around Rs 4 lakh a unit, and it is 25-30 per cent cheaper compared to its competitors.

''We don't want to compromise on quality.From Wednesday, we expect to scale up to capacity of 40-45 ventilators per day and scale it up to 60-65 ventilators per day by the end of this month if component supplies are relaxed,'' Kurele said.

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