Additive manufacturing to fight Covid-19 following the Italian example

In this moment of public health emergency caused by the outbreak of Covid-19, the healthcare sector is facing unprecedented challenges. In particular, the virus outbreak is causing severe shortages of critical medical equipment in hospitals or limited access to essential pieces, in particular valves or ventilators.

Cecimo, as the European association for Additive Manufacturing was requested by the European Commission to address its membership and query if it would be able to aid in producing equipment (for instance, valves or ventilators) that hospitals are lacking due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Europe. Consequently, Cecimo has decided to expand the call for action to all AM companies, urging everybody who has the possibility to do so, to assist the needs of hospitals all over Europe.

The response from Cecimo Members has been so far very positive, with many companies from the 3Dprinting industry already volunteering to aid hospitals and health centers by proposing the use of their machines. Cecimo believes that the additive manufacturing sector can be the right answer to reach immediate solutions. A good example is the case of the Italian startup Isinnova, which offered their printer to a hospital in lack of valves for their medical devices.