Massimiliano Boggetto, president of Confindustria Medical Devices stated regarding the support requested by the Government: "Medical device companies are ready to collaborate and intensify production capacity, or reconvert it where possible, to meet the need for respirators increasingly required by hospitals dealing with the coronavirus emergency".
According to a mapping "about 10-12 companies in the sector have specific know-how and residual production to exploit. The productive reconversion of companies that produce different devices is less likely, because there are complex regulatory aspects".
Two weeks ago, explains Boggetti, "we have issued an internal code of conduct, based on the principle of systematizing production, sensitizing companies to supply institutions before other customers and the commitment to keep pre-crisis prices controlled ”.
Days of confrontation with the Ministry of Health and Civil Protection followed. "In recent weeks we have tried to make a survey of the skills in the area, on the residual production capacity, with a view to refocusing production ”, he explains. Focusing on Made in Italy in this moment of crisis “is important. The Italian medical device sector is worth 17 billion per year, 4.000 companies, is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises and is a strategic asset for the country. It would always need support and not only at this moment ”. Medical devices, on the other hand, require very complex technologies, specialized personnel and there is an important regulatory aspect. "There could therefore be more recruitments, but the search for trained personnel is not easy, and in this period even companies in this sector face many difficulties, including travel restrictions, quarantines for some employees, the problem of transporting goods. and procurement of raw materials. Furthermore, smart working is very limited. But compared to others we can't stop, because we don't produce clothes".