A breakthrough in the design and development of ‘ICo-Vent’ to address the shortage of ventilators in the world for treating thousands of critically-ill COVID-19 patients was announced by a team headed by engineer, inventor and former MP, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy.
The prototype of ICo-Vent (Indian COVID Ventilator) is built to UK, Canadian and many other government specifications for “the minimum clinically accepted criteria for rapidly manufacturable ventilator to address the COVID-19 situation”. Designed and developed six weeks ago, the final prototype was validated, calibrated and certified and tested on humans. The Indian government is also in the process of coming out with a similar set of specifications. A patent for the technology and function has already been applied for, he said.
Demonstrating the final prototype in Hyderabad on Tuesday, Mr. Reddy said the ICo-Vent comes in three models priced at ₹50,000, ₹90,000 and ₹1.2 lakh and can be rolled out into the market in three to four weeks. A sophisticated ICU ventilator today costs ₹5 lakh.
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“The ICo-Vent specially designed for COVID-19 and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome patients also allows the intensive care specialist or pulmonologist to order a precise volume of air and oxygen at a precise inspiration pressure and expiration pressure considering the compliance or elasticity of the lung,” he said. But before releasing ICo-Vent into the market, it will be tested for two more weeks for reliability and robustness.
Mr. Reddy, who is MD of Stephan Design and Engineering Ltd and AVV Turbines Ltd., holds multiple patents for his inventions and says they can manufacture 300 units a month in their Hyderabad facility. The company is looking for tie up with those with better manufacturing capacities, and companies in Europe and US are said to have shown interest in large scale manufacturing. In India, production can be scaled up to 20,000 units a month, he said.