Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Apr 15: Prof K V Gangadharan and Dr Prathviraj of the centre for system design, National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) at Suratkal have designed ventilators which can be used by more than one person in case of people suffering from acute breathing problems. These ventilators, which can be used in case of emergencies where there is a shortage of ventilators, can be used for two, three or four patients at a time.

Their 3-D printed ventilator invention was undertaken with help from old students and donors.

Both the experts plan to work with state and national level teams to increase the production of ventilators. Doctors have permitted the team to conduct a preliminary test of the split ventilators in ten different hospitals.

Split ventilators are being produced at 20 spots in the country and 500 of them will be supplied soon. This invention was the result of only 15 days of continuous work. These ventilators can be controlled through remote from home.

NITK has also been producing N95 masks which are needed by medical personnel, security and police at the rate of 1,000 per day and face shields at the rate of 300 per day. Personal protection equipment is being produced at Bengaluru and supplied to hospitals.

As a community and social service initiative, head of the physics department, Dr Arun K Islur along with Syed Ibrahim and Harsha have already produced 390 hand sanitiser bottles of 70 ml each and distributed them free of cost.

Prov K V Gangadharan said that split ventilators use is highly effective in case of USA and Italy too where a large number of coronavirus cases have been reported. As it is difficult to bring ventilators in case of emergency, the use of split ventilators make it possible to treat several students at a time, he pointed out.