Companies in Shanghai are providing assistance in combating the coronavirus outbreak by helping relieve the supplies shortage of hospitals in Hubei. Through Fosun Foundation, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd. ( “Fosun Pharma” or the “Group”; stock codes: 600196.SH, 02196.HK)’s subsidiary Breas (Shanghai) Technologies AB (hereinafter referred to as “Breas”) donated 140 medical non-invasive ventilators (including 30 ones for Leishenshan Hospital) altogether worth RMB 15 million to 14 hospitals in 11  prefectural cities in Hubei Province, such as Wuhan, Huanggang, Xiaogan, Xiangyang and Jingzhou. 

As confirmed cases of infection with the novel coronavirus continue to mount, hospitals in Hubei are experiencing supplies shortage, which includes not only materials the public has been collecting for hospitals such as N95 face masks and protective gowns, but also ventilator equipment, which can help save the lives of severely ill patients. “When it comes to preventing and controlling epidemics, everyone’s responsible. In as early as late January 2020, our team twice made additional orders to our Swedish headquarters for emergency stocking. This batch of urgently procured non-invasive ventilators are the world’s latest model, and we hope to put our best products to use in the most needed places as soon as possible to help frontline medical workers save more lives,” said Senior Vice President and Vice Chairman of Fosun Pharma Liu Yi.  

Non-invasive ventilators are the key medical equipment in this response to the novel coronavirus epidemic. In the treatment section of its Diagnosis and Treatment of Pneumonitis Caused by Novel Coronavirus (trial version 5), the National Health Commission clearly mentioned the use of non-invasive ventilators for breath support. By not causing any wounds on patients, this type of ventilators can largely reduce the chance of infection while maintaining stable blood oxygen saturation by allowing patients to control their breath.

Breas Medical was founded in 1991 in Mölnlycke, Sweden, as an entrepreneurial company that quickly developed to become one of the global leaders in home mechanical ventilation and sleep treatment. The medical non-invasive ventilator developed and manufactured by Breas comes with features such as the functions of remote operation and built-in power storage, high movability and one-to-one conversion from invasion to non-invasion, enjoying unique advantages in the response to this pneumonia epidemic caused by the highly infectious coronavirus. Up until now, Breas has sent in total hundreds of medical non-invasive ventilators to various designated hospitals in Wuhan, and orders from the world over for the product are still on the rise.

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Since the COVID-19 epidemic outbreak, Breas’s Swedish headquarters have responded immediately by prioritising the Chinese market and increasing working hours and production lines for manufacturing ventilators, so as to ensure timely delivery for frontline needs. During the Lunar New Year period, the company’s service hotline ran around the clock to ensure emergency handling and safeguard clinical services. To better serve and support hospitals in its anti-epidemic needs and increase effective protection, Breas’ employees and partners across China, such as Hubei, Shaanxi, Tianjin, Shanghai and Zhejiang, have proactively worked overtime to join the battle.

Ending the epidemic is our order, while prevention and control are our responsibility.  As a leading healthcare group in the PRC, Fosun Pharma vigorously bears its social responsibilities by fully deploying urgently needed supplies to support the front line. Apart from Breas’s non-invasive ventilators, other medical equipment also played active roles in the fight against this epidemic, such as Beiling’s negative pressure ambulances, which are used in large numbers to safely transfer patients, and Chindex International’s mobiles CT.