Tamil Nadu: Student-startup develops low-cost ventilator

A student startup has developed a prototype of a ventilator here which could be used in an emergency situation.

The Intermittent Positive Pressure Breathing Ventilator (IPPV) is developed by a start-up started by students of Rathinam Group of Institution at the Atal Incubation Centre (AIC), which is funded by the union government.

"During this COVID-19 pandemic crisis, we came up with this low-cost ventilator. When we started we thought that ventilators are huge and sophisticated machines. But when we thought of designing one, we came to know that most emergency ventilators use the same mechanism and the base technology is same. We started making a prototype of Intermittent positive pressure ventilation," said Ebin, Microbiology Engineer and senior manager at Atal Incubation Centre.

"This can be used in an emergency situation. We are also upgrading this product to suit it for use in ICUs. We will have to give this to ICMR and get it certified and this process is going on," he said.

Once it gets certified it can be used for commercial production and will cost around Rs 25,000, he added.

The Director of the AIC Dr Madan A Senthil said, "If the demand for the ventilator is increased then its cost can come down to Rs 15,000 or even less.