Trần Ngọc Phúc (L) is Founder and Chairman of Metran Co., Ltd in Japan. — VNA/VNS Photo Đào Thanh Tùng

TOKYO — Japanese medical equipment firm Metran plans to make 15,000 ventilators for Việt Nam to help the country combat the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) which is ravaging the globe, according to Founder and Chairman Trần Ngọc Phúc.

Metran has received orders for ventilators from many countries, including Japan, but the company’s capacity is limited so it is working with the world’s leading consulting firms to legally share design specifications of its ventilators to other producers to boost production capacity, said Phúc, a Vietnamese – Japanese national.

Metran will transfer its patent to a partner in Việt Nam to produce about 15,000 ventilators for the Vietnamese market.

According to the founder, his company is confronting a shortage of workers and components for production, but is working to fix these issues.

At full capacity, the firm can produce 5,000–10,000 ventilators per month, Phúc said.

Metran Co., Ltd, based in Saitama, was founded by Phúc in 1984, 16 years after he left Việt Nam to begin studying industrial chemistry at Tokai University in Japan.

The company has developed a high frequency oscillatory ventilator (HFO), named Hummingbird. Metran’s HFO allows for diffusion of air supply at a rate thousands of times faster than other machines.

From a heavy “mechanical beast” the effectiveness of which has been recognised by the renowned US National Institute of Health (NIH), the device has undergone several revisions – with the latest sporting a slimmer body and a full touch control panel.

The new machine’s efficiency has ensured its widespread presence in Japan, with a reported 90 per cent of Japanese hospitals and medical facilities being outfitted with machines made by Phúc’s company. The paediatric ventilator is also present in hospitals in 12 other countries and continues to expand its global presence. — VNS