New Delhi, Mar 30 (IANS): The Centre has asked automobile companies to manufacture ventilators to tide over any shortages in treating Covid-19 patients.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in a tweet on Monday, that these companies are working towards producing ventilators.

The government had earlier asked several leading automobile players such as Maruti and Mahindra to look into the possibility of manufacturing ventilators.

At present, engineers of Mahindra Group are working on manufacturing prototypes of ventilators, while Maruti Suzuki India has entered into an arrangeme nt with AgVa Healthcare to scale up the production of ventilators.

In the US, companies such as Ford Motor and GM have been roped into manufacturing the life saving medical equipment.

Besides, the Ministry tweeted that Bharat Electronics Ltd has been asked to manufacture 30,000 ventilators in the next two months in collaboration with local manufacturers.

"Over 14,000 existing #ventilators earmarked for #Covid_19 patients in various hospitals in the country," it said, adding that AgVa Healthcare, Noida has been given an order to manufacture 10,000 ventilators with a month.

The supplies from AgVa are expected to commence in the second week of April.