Ventilators cost between 25,000 and 50,000 dollars but why?
Medical equipment has always been incredibly expensive, in this day and age with the very cheap cost of microelectronics and mass produced precision engineering such a basic machine should cost far less.
Dyson has designed one in ten days and plans to build thousands, I can’t wait to see how much these cost…
Ventilators cost between 25,000 and 50,000 dollars but why?When profits matter more than anything else, what do you expect?
They’ve managed to make CPAPs that can fit in a shoe box and get dropped down the stairs and still function.
So I don’t think technology is an excuse.
Dyson the Vacuum Cleaner obsessive? - (I’ve invented ten thousand versions of the vacuum cleaners and I’m still not satisfied)
Oh lordie, hope he decides to build them as simple as possible, instead of as interesting as his tinkering heart desires.
On the serious side:
https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/in-just-10-days-dyson-designed-a-completely-new-ventilator-specifically-for-covid-19-patients.htmlThere are few things that the world needs right now more than really smart people solving really big problems. Considering the size and scope of what we’re facing right now, we could use plenty of both. Especially when it comes to health care and providing the equipment needed to help those who need it.
Fortunately for all of us, there are quite a few individuals and companies stepping up in different ways, from donating needed medical supplies to partnering with other manufacturers to build devices like ventilators. …
I’ve already written about how Apple was donating millions of masks to health care workers (10 million as of now), and how Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased 1,000 ventilators from China and had them shipped to Los Angeles. Then there’s the effort from billionaires like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg to bring more testing to Seattle and San Francisco, respectively. And, I wrote about Ford’s strategy of working with other companies like GE to help increase the pace of building ventilators.
Of course, building complicated life-sustaining devices like ventilators takes time.
That’s why it’s impressive that Dyson, the company famous for its high-end vacuums and hand dryers, has introduced a brand-new bed-mounted ventilator that runs on a battery and can be used in field hospitals like those being constructed in major cities like New York. The company says it has an order for 10,000 units from the U.K. government. …
Hugo I’m wondering the same thing. I tend to agree with citizen’s first response above.
On a similar note. I don’t know if you’re a US citizen, but if you aren’t then maybe you haven’t been treated to Dr. Ho and his “amazing” back brace. Only costs around $140 (us,) and is quite possibly covered by Medicare! There’s a whole plethora of TV ads selling bodily braces of all kinds and most have that same teaser of being covered by Medicare. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if some of our congress critters were invested in those companies and helped grease the wheels for Medicare coverage of their purchase - at very inflated prices. Lots of us old folks watch those ads and buy that stuff. When I mentioned this at a family gathering, a nephew remarked that his grandmother had a whole closet of those advertised devices, still in the packages, unused.
Dyson: our vacuum cleaner was on its last dying breaths, and so we went looking for a replacement. Consumer Reports rates them highly but I was still skeptical that a battery powered vacuum could replace the event horizon power of our older one. But my wife just had to have one and we got it with rewards points (thankfully) that she had earned at work. Sure enough it lived down to my expectations, and is only good for minor cleanups, imo. And the damned thing looks like something designed by Peter whats-his-name, from the psychedelic '60’s.
but I do hope Mr. Dyson’s are effective and reasonably priced (his vacuums are not) - we need all the help we can get.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that loves picking on his silly vacuum cleaners. 
If you want a real vacuum, just settle for a Shark, simple, solid, and they suck.
Though I do hope Dyson’s have good luck with mass producing good, solid ventilators.
When in a squeeze we are capable of amazing things.
Medical equipment has always been incredibly expensive, in this day and age with the very cheap cost of microelectronics and mass produced precision engineering such a basic machine should cost far less.I suspect you will find that the cost has much to do with regulations and government approvals. In our lawsuit crazy nation if a slick lawyer could convince a jury that a seemingly minor part of the machine could possibly have had anything to do with granddad's demise his heirs would reap millions from the manufacturer. These machines have to be such that not a single bacteria or virus could hide anywhere in it and escape a cleaning. Not only that but the company has to have documentation showing that it tested every part for every possible adverse condition. And of course the machines must be shown to have a failure rate so low as to be essentially unbreakable.
One cannot go down to the local hardware store and get nuts and bolts approved for medical devices. If it were that simple they would just have one big air compressor somewhere in the hospital and run a pipe to a pressure regulator in every room.