In Battle Against Corona, Doctors Turn To Low-Cost, Innovative Ventilators

NEW DELHI/NAGPUR: With the country worried about a shortage of ventilators, some innovative options are emerging. Dr Deepak Agrawal, professor of neurosurgery at AIIMS, and Diwakar Vaish, a robotics scientist, who previously developed what they claimed was the world’s cheapest ventilator ‘AgVa’ — which costs about Rs 1.5 lakh — told TOI they have improved upon this ventilator by incorporating a patent pending negative ion generator which inactivates the virus.

At Nagpur’s New Era hospital, doctors have developed a tool with which eight patients can be put on one ventilator at the same time. Though ventilator splitters are not new, this one is said to be the first to serve eight patients at a time.

The health ministry in a statement said on March 30 that they have placed an order to 1,000 ventilators from Agva Healthcare. “Supplies are expected to commence by the second week of April,” it added.

“The inactivated virus is trapped at the expiratory end by a positive charge system thus protecting the environment,” Dr Agrawal said, who named his device AgVa COVID.

The firm had received orders for over 50,000 ventilators from across the globe which it had to cancel due to sudden export ban on ventilators by the government, sources said.

It is now channelising its resources to meet the needs of central and different state governments.
The government has also placed an order for 30,000 ventilators from Bharat Electronics Limited which is going to collaborate with domestic manufacturers in this endeavour. “Indian auto manufacturers are also preparing to manufacture ventilators,” the government said. The Ministry of External Affairs is also approaching suppliers in China for sourcing 10,000 ventilators from them.

Ventilators are required for Covid-19 patients, as they tend to develop acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS). Less than 20 covid-19 patients are on ventilator support at this moment, according to the health ministry. As against this, over 14,000 ventilators have been identified in various hospitals across the country for treatment of Covid-19 patients, the ministry says.

However, experts say the need for ventilators may rise exponentially. “Two days ago, we made this ‘splitter’ with the use of computerized 3-D printing mechanism. Now, in case of emergency like mass casualty, we can ventilate eight patients with one ventilator. We can make more such splitters, if needed,” said Dr Anand Sancheti, director of New Era Hospital.

Dr Sancheti stated that Samir and Siddharth Bhusari of Saras Life Solution Company in Butibori provided valuable technical support for this invention.

Pulmonologist Dr Sameer Arbat has designed a safety box for performing difficult bronchoscopy procedures in suspected or confirmed Covid-19 patients.

“Covid-19 spreads through coughing and sneezing, so it is very risky to perform bronchoscopy procedures in suspected or confirmed Covid-19 patients. The aerosols generated by a patient during such procedures can infect the doctor as well as spread in the surrounding area, thus infecting other patients,” said Dr Arbat.

He worked on this design during lockdown and used only acrylic sheets and plastic materials available in the hospital as all vendors were shut. According to him, the prototype model has been already used and can be easily replicated by any doctor or hospital for treating patients of Covid-19.

Dr Arbat said that he got the idea from some similar designs being used by doctors abroad. “I made an improvisation to make the box multipurpose for performing bronchoscopy as well as intubation procedures. I believe it is very economical to fabricate and should be useful for all doctors. It is advisable for the doctors and staff to wear proper personal protective equipment (PPE) for maximum safety,” he said.

Nurses in Meditrina Institute of Medical Sciences made innovative use of the available material to design personal protection suite for them to deal with shortage of PPE kits and masks. “Necessity is the mother of invention. Our staff designed and stitched PPE kits right here in our hospital. I appreciated their effort. I know this is makeshift arrangement. Doctors must get proper protection as the cases are increasing,” said Dr Sameer Paltewar, director of Meditrina Institute.-Times Of India