CHENNAI: In the war against the villainous virus, corona warriors, especially in India, seem to be at a disadvantage with a severe lack of weapons — protective gear and adequate medical equipment. While the former is being taken care of by good Samaritans who have mobilised in groups to make and distribute PPE (personal protective equipment), it took just one appeal from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to goad manufacturers to develop ventilators.
Responding to this clarion call are a few members of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Coimbatore chapter, who got together to create a low-cost non-invasive ventilator. The members, who belong to diverse professions, got together for this project at the end of March. Ramesh Ramalingam, MD of Alpha Craft, the brain behind this innovation, says, “We initially thought we could use a design that Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was going to put out in the public domain, about which I learned from a colleague. They had a design for a ventilator, but when we looked at it we realised that the parts would have to be imported, which was not possible.
So, we decided to modify the design with parts available in India, and have now made a prototype. We will test it starting Friday, for 72 hours without any interruption. If a ventilator can function for 72 hours at a stretch then it is a success. Once this stage is over, we will give it to some hospitals in Coimbatore for clinical trials.” Headed by Ramalingam, the team comprises scientists from five medical device companies in Coimbatore. They have been working for a little over two weeks to create the prototype. Currently, the machine is being assembled. It will have a tube and a mask.
This ventilator will have to be strapped to the head of the patient. While there are helmet-like non-invasive ventilators in the market, Ramalingam explains that a helmet would have caused problems in this design as the machine now weighs around 10 kg. Like any other ventilator, the intensity can be adjusted as per the needs of the patient. So far, the developers have invested `30 lakh on this machine. They are prepared to start making 20 more machines for circulation by the end of April — as soon as the prototype is declared a success.
“We are looking to sell the machine for around `30,000 but the cost is still being worked out,” he adds. Once this model becomes successful and is instroduced in the market, they have more plans to take this a notch higher. “Making low-cost yet sophisticated ventilators is a challenge for us. Once this design becomes successful, we can start thinking of an invasive ventilator also as they are more sophisticated with monitors that will give you all the parameters like pulse rate,” he says.