Chairman of the Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra announced on Twitter that its specialised team at its Igatpuri and Mumbai plants have responded to the occasion and developed the first ventilator prototype in under 48 hours. "Anand Mahindra also tweeted that these medical ventilators developed by the team at Mahindra would cost under Rs 7,500, whereas other dedicated systems cost anywhere between Rs 5-10 lakh." This news was published on March 26, 2020. [1]
Yesterday's ToI carried an article where Dr Rajeev Chauhan, Assistant Professor at PGIMER said that the device claimed by Mahindra team was originally developed by PGIMER and IISc together from their one year effort and they have applied for ๐๐๐๐๐๐. With the spread of the pandemic, they began talks with Mahindra group for large scale production. Dr Chauhan further said that representatives from the business house took details of his invention and 48 hours later introduced the ambu bag as their own product. Mahindra spokesperson denied this saying that they had in fact developed their product following ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ designs from a variety of sources. [2]
The BBC article, dated 1st April, titled, "Covid-19: The race to build coronavirus ventilators" starts with "The world needs more ventilators โ but scaling up production is more complex than it seems. Around the world, thousands of volunteers are working hard to fill the gaps." The article continues, "In terms of their core function, ventilators are not extraordinarily complicated machines. Basically, they are sophisticated pumps ... So why are they so difficult to design? Because it isnโt their function that is difficult. Itโs that they have to operate in an extremely reliable way in a high-stakes environment." [3]
Of various ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ initiatives, the MIT News of March 26 shares an article titled, "MIT-based team works on rapid deployment of ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐, low-cost ventilator". ln this, "Clinical and design considerations will be published online; goal is to support rapid scale-up of device production to alleviate hospital shortages." The material cost is estimated to be USD 450 (~ Rs. 35000) instead of USD 30000 for standard ones. The article, continues, "The key to the simple, inexpensive ventilator alternative is a hand-operated plastic pouch called a bag-valve resuscitator, or Ambu bag. A tube is inserted into the patientโs airway, as with a hospital ventilator, but then the pumping of air into the lungs is done by squeezing and releasing the flexible pouch. This is a task for skilled personnel, trained in how to evaluate the patient and adjust the timing and pressure of the pumping accordingly." [4]
MIT has come up with a dedicated website for this ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ project and is releasing information as and when it reaches a particular benchmark. The key ventilation specifications to be achieved by this low cost device is non-trivial. It is not just pumping a fixed volume at a fixed rate. Other than spec., hardware and software design details are being populated there (free registration). The download section as of now says, "๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐จ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง, ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ, ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ง-๐๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ฌ๐. ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ฌ๐ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ." Between March 20 and April 01, MIT team has conducted 4 testing; the first one was a comparative study on animal with their first version of the prototype against Medtronic's PB 840 ventilator system. [5]
Meanwhile, TechCrunch in its 31st March article titled, "Medtronic is sharing its portable ventilator design specifications and code for free to all" has Medtronic spokesperson saying, โWe are sharing the design specifications for the [PB 560] to enable participants across industries to evaluate options for rapid ventilator manufacturing to help doctors and patients dealing with COVID-19.โ Itโs worth noting that Medtronic ๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ the PB 560โs design exactly: itโs issuing a special โ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐โ specifically for the purposes of addressing this global coronavirus pandemic, and ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฆ ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ง๐ข๐ณ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐งโ๐ฌ ๐จ๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ง (๐๐๐๐๐) ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ, ๐จ๐ซ ๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ญ๐จ๐๐๐ซ ๐, ๐๐๐๐, ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐๐ก๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ. [6]
