Anna University offers to procure ventilators

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

28.03.2020

As the state looks to set up more beds for Covid-19 patients, Anna University has offered to procure ventilators and test and service those that need repairs.

Officials of the university, which has a state-of-art National Hub for Healthcare Instrumentation Development (NHHID) and a Centre for Calibration and Testing for Medical Equipment, recently met state health department officials.

“Our bio-medical engineers will work with Anna University engineers in servicing ventilators. They also offered to help produce more ventilators,” health secretary Beela Rajesh said. “Tamil Nadu has 2,000 ventilators and has ordered additional ventilators.”

“The ventilators will be serviced by an expert company and we will calibrate them. It could add 100-150 ventilators in government hospitals … We will involve our faculty members and qualified students to assist the manufacturer,” said professor S Muttan, co-ordinator of NHHID.

The university has entered into a MoU with Kritikare India Private Limited which makes at least 50 units per month. To increase it to 500-600 units per month, it would need more manpower.

“The university is willing to provide labs and space to assemble and test the ventilators. Our faculty members and students are more than willing to work for the nation in a time of crisis,” said professor K Sankaran, national networking consultant, NHHID. The university also plans to develop lowcost ventilators.