Celestica contracted by Starfish Medical to make ventilators for Health Canada
by The Canadian Press, with files from CM Staff
Celestica intends to deliver the devices to Health Canada in the fourth quarter of 2020
TORONTO – Celestica Inc. has been contracted to build 7,500 ventilators in Newmarket, Ont., for Starfish Medical Inc.
Financial terms of the contract weren’t announced.
Celestica is a Toronto-based company with a global business that manufactures equipment for a variety of industries including health care, aerospace and information technology.
Starfish, based in Victoria, B.C., provides medical device design, development and contract manufacturing. The firm is one of several companies working on the federal government’s plan to produce up to 30,000 medical ventilators that can be used to treat severe symptoms of COVID-19.
Celestica will begin manufacturing of the ventilators in May and intends to deliver the finished products on behalf of StarFish to Health Canada for distribution early in the fourth quarter of 2020.
“We are proud to partner with StarFish Medical in supplying the ventilators that healthcare professionals must have to treat COVID-19 patients who are in critical condition,” said Kevin Walsh, vice-president, HealthTech, Celestica, in a prepared statement. “It’s a Canada-for-Canada alliance that will help to ensure our hospitals and healthcare workers have the equipment they need to save lives.”
“We’re working on a very short timetable, and Celestica’s expertise and capabilities across the entire product development cycle will ensure we can meet the deadline and deliver products of the highest quality,” said John Walmsley, EVP strategic relationships, StarFish Medical Inc.
Canadian hospitals had an estimated 5,000 ventilators at the outset of the COVID outbreak in mid-March, when public health measures were put in place to limit the disease’s impact.
