Inspiration Healthcare Group PLC (LON:IHC) is working on bringing a £4mln batch of ventilator machines and other crucial medical equipment for the UK after receiving an expanded order from the NHS.
The AIM-listed medical products distributor said it was working with manufacturers and suppliers from various countries to get the equipment to the UK “as soon as possible”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock have called for assistance from industry to build 20,000 ventilators in the space of a fortnight as its existing stock of around 5,000-8,000 machines is not expected to be enough for the peak number of cases coming in the next few weeks.
Following discussions with the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care, Inspiration said an initial £1.25mln order from the NHS on Monday had now been followed by a second order worth £4mln.
“I'm delighted that Inspiration Healthcare has been able to benefit from our commercial relationships with critical care equipment manufacturers and source such large quantities of this very specialist equipment,” said chief executive Neil Campbell.
The total NHS orders are considerably larger than the company has received in the past.
With governments worldwide tightening measures as the pandemic worsens, this could potentially delay supplies, Campbell said.
Also on Friday the government said further supplies of ventilators could be produced by the end of next week in the UK, by engineering firms that were re-tooling their facilities to help deal with the virus outbreak, including a group led by aerospace engineer Meggitt and car manufacturers such as Nissan and Vauxhall.
“More than half a dozen companies have already made one in prototype, to check with us that we are happy with the quality,” health minister Matt Hancock said.
He said he expected the new ventilators would able to be used in hospitals by the end of next week.
Inspiration Healthcare shares were up 11% to 70p on Friday morning