A Deep Dive on Chinese Medical Supply Chains
I have been reading a blog by James Seng, who is a Singapore-based wholesale sourcing agent for medical supplies exported out of China. He seems to have backed into this role (for years he was a high-level expert on Internet architecture and governance, credited with bringing e-commerce to China) and is now ideally placed to provide insight into the workings of supply chains out of China in a suddenly critical area.
Seng is writing a series of posts on subjects such as N95 masks and ventilators. Each one is a deep dive into the intricacies of international manufacturing standards, industrial supply chains, Chinese factories, black-market speculators, and much more. Absolutely fascinating stuff – and, in the case of the ventilators, infuriating.
Maybe there is an opportunity for a charitable organizations to carry inventories of ventilators for pandemics. Red Cross, Wounded Warriors, etc. Their donors might be inspired to put this into their charities’ business models.
That is a really great idea. Although shouldn’t the government be doing this? I thought they were, until this all happened.
I’m afraid that enough ventilators will not save many of the people that are terribley sick as we are meant to believe. This virus affects the lungs like no other we have encountered. Many people are dying when they are on ventilaters. And the vents can actually damage the lungs, as the pressure is increased to force oxygen in to the lungs that can’t accept it. Sorry. It’s wonderful to think if we can procure a bunch of ventilators, we will be good! Not that simple I am sad to say.
Here is a development I’m keeping a close eye on, first publicized by a New York ICU doctor named Cameron Kyle-Sidell. His video was posted on March 30. After 9 days on the front lines he believes that we (the entire country & most of the world) are treating the wrong disease. That ventilators are doing serious harm, as you allude. The link above is to the Talking Points Memo blog, where Josh Marshall is bringing this possibility to wider attention. The idea has support from doctors in Germany, he says.