Indian Railway’s Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala has become first PSU to develop prototype of ventilator.
This prototype of a ventilator can be used in the isolation wards or quarantine facilities which Indian Railways is creating in train coaches across the network.
According to an Indian Express report, this development is the first such breakthrough by a production unit and RCF came out with the prototype within a week of receiving the instructions from the government to explore the possibility of making ventilators.
The prototype has an original design and will cost almost a fraction of what the regular ventilators cost.
The prototype has been named ‘Jeevan’ and now, the Indian Council of Medical Research or ICMR will conduct the final testing of the prototype.
The test and results by ICMR will affirm whether the ventilator will be put for production across the Indian Railways network. The in-house medical professionals of Rail Coach Factory (RCF) have tested the prototype and given the approval for the same.
The RCF has said that the cost of the ventilator will be under Rs 10,000 without the compressor. So, overall, the cost will still remain to be a fraction of what the other regular ventilators are priced in the market.
The Prototype can be utilized as an emergency ventilator and its production is easy, which can be done with the smaller size components or locally sourced components.
The body of the ventilator has been made from the train coach components. The heart of the ventilator is the compressed air container and it has a microprocessor based controller.
A valve has been installed in the system for regulating the breathing of the patient, whether old or young. The operations of the device will be silent.
The prototype is not based on reverse engineering but it has been prepared as an original design from scratch.