Philips speaks to Britain’s MHRA about a ban on ventilators
British hospitals will no longer be allowed to use some Philips ventilators after the summer. The British regulator MHRA believes that the measures proposed by Philips to solve the appliance problems are not sufficient as the sole authority in the world. The Dutch healthcare technology company is still in talks with the British regulator.
A Philips spokesperson confirmed this after Eindhovens Dagblad reported it, which cited a May statement from the MHRA. According to the spokesperson, the company hopes to change the British regulator’s mind. If the problems cannot be resolved, the machines should be taken out of use by the end of September.
These are the V60 and V60 Plus fans. About 100,000 of these are in use worldwide, 2,000 of which are in the UK. Last year, it was already known that equipment could suddenly fail due to a defect without triggering an alarm. According to Philips, the chance of this happening is very small.
external alarm
The company says hospitals can also connect an external alarm, which is often built into intensive care rooms. However, the company has already announced actions. Philips then visits hospitals to fix the device. And organizers around the world agreed to this, according to the spokesperson, with the exception of Great Britain.
Philips has been plagued for some time with problems with its ventilators and sleep apnea devices, and this has come at a lot of costs. The problems are mainly related to the insulating foam in some machines. It can break down or release chemicals after contact with some cleaning products. For this shortcoming, which is different from the V60’s problems, Philips had to replace 5.5 million sleep apnea and ventilator devices worldwide.
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