As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in India, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, is working on portable ventilators at cheaper rates than the ones available in the market.
IIT-Kanpur professors claim that the ventilators would be available at Rs 70,000, much cheaper than the ones presently available in the market at Rs 4 lakh.
“Every component used in these ventilators has been sourced from India only,” the professors said.
The prototype for the portable ventilator has been developed by Nocca Robotics- a start-up incubated at IIT Kanpur and started by two former students of the institute- Nikhil Kurule and Harshit Rathore.
A nine-member team has been formed by the institute and it includes doctors from Narayana Institute of Cardiac Sciences (NICS), Bangalore.
These doctors will vet the prototype, following which Nocca Robotics will get around 1000 portable ventilators ready within a month.
“The prototype developed is an invasive type mechanical ventilator capable of operating in pressure-controlled mode,” NDTV reported quoting the team.
The team further informed that the ventilator will be permanently connected to a mobile phone and this will be used to control the device and display critical information.
It was further informed that the device will not require any form of medical air and it will be capable of operating on its own in ambient air.
“There will also be a provision for attaching oxygen cylinder when required,” NDTV further reported.
