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.

A cheap emergency ventilator that can be quickly manufactured using off-the-shelf parts could support health systems during the #COVID-19 pandemic. it has been designed by Jakob Mathiszig-Lee at the Royal Brompton Hospital and a team from @ImperialBioeng https://t.co/Tegyu1oSxL

— Imperial Spark (@ImperialSpark) April 3, 2020

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.

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