LONDON: A team of Bioengineering Department of Imperial College London in collaboration with Jakob Mathiszig-Lee of the Royal Brompton Hospital has designed a simple low cost emergency ventilator.
The researchers from the departments of Bioengineering and Surgery and Cancer have produced a ventilator design from generic components which could support health systems during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It can be used both in high income countries and low or middle income countries, where the pressure on resources is likely to be even greater.
Because the ventilator uses off-the-shelf components, its parts can in principle be sourced more quickly and at lower cost than proprietary components. The team estimates the cost of the components in the UK at £1,000 – £1,500 (around Rs0.3 million). The design also makes it possible to avoid supply bottlenecks since equivalent parts may be available from a variety of manufacturers.
