Gurusamy Krishnamoorthy, chief executive officer of Penlon, a British medical device manufacturing firm, is all set to receive the Member of the Royal Order of British Empire (MBE) recognition from the Queen.
When COVID-19 broke out, Prime Minister Boris Johnson had called on companies to manufacture ventilators. “At the time the National Health Service (NHS) had less than 10,000 ventilators, but the clinicians predicted that at the rate the infection was spreading, they would need at least 25,000 ventilators in a matter of weeks.
Soon after Mr. Johnson’s announcement, big companies came forward and got to work. Penlon also applied though it did not manufacture intensive care unit ventilators at the time.
A consortium of companies was created with Penlon as the hub. As many as 4,000 workers were employed to work three round-the-clock shifts. Within a fortnight, the medical health regulatory authority approved the equipment. In 12 weeks’ time, 11,700 ventilators were delivered.
After vaccination, this was one of the most successful projects. The U.K. exported ventilators to African countries and Bangladesh.
This effort resulted in an award from the Royal Academy of Engineering. Later, he was nominated for the MBE.