Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the world is running out of certain medical supplies as more of these supplies and equipment are being used more so than ever. It looks like Fitbit wants to do their part to help and according to the company’s CEO James Park, the company is looking to make emergency ventilators that can be used by healthcare workers.Speaking to CNBC, Park revealed that Fitbit will be submitting their plans to make emergency ventilators to FDA for approval. These ventilators were designed after consulting physicians from Massachusetts General Brigham and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). The company is hoping that with their supply chain, they’ll be able to contribute to the fight.
According to Park, “There was a lot of concern about the shortage of ventilators and we realized we had expertise already around the supply chain.” He adds, “I think one of the advantages for us is that we have the infrastructure and manufacturing capability. We already make 10 million (wearable) devices per year, and we plan to leverage that to make deliver product at whatever volumes are needed.”
Fitbit won’t be the first company to leverage its manufacturing and production facilities to produce medical equipment. Other companies such as Razer have already started using their production lines to start making face masks.
Filed in . Read more about Coronavirus, Covid-19 and Fitbit. Source: cnbc