THANJAVUR: The Government Rajiv Gandhi hospital in Chennai has placed an order with SASTRA, Deemed to be University, for the supply of 100 3-D printed splits to be used in ventilators for COVID-19 patients.
S Vaidhyasubramaniam, Vice-Chancellor of SASTRA, said the splits were tested by the hospital and their use approved. Dean of the hospital Dr R Jayanthi connected six Y-splits and found them working satisfactorily on four patients when connected to a single ventilator, he said.
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“We have created a community of 3D printing service providers, which has around 200 members who shall be involved in crowd-sourced printing to scale these splits at a national level should such a situation arise,” Vaidhyasubramaniam said.
Further, he said the splits have been given to AIIMS, New Delhi, for testing. The AICTE has sent instructions to all engineering colleges having 3D printer facilities to be part of this initiative.
In another research work, SASTRA is also approaching competent authorities to validate its preliminary simulation findings in the University’s lab on the efficacy of three medicinal plant molecules as anti-COVID agents, Vaidhyasubramaniam said.