Konda Vishweshwar Reddy invents ICo-Vent” – The First COVID-19 specific ventilator

Hyderabad, April 21 (Maxim News): Parliament former Member Konda Vishweshwar Reddy said he had developed indigenous ICo-Vent, an Indian, “rapidly manufacturable COVID-19 specific ventilator” that will address the shortage of ventilators in the world and will speedily make available, lifesaving ventilators for treating the thousands of critically-ill COVID-19 patients who require mechanical ventilation. He termed the development of the ventilator as a global breakthrough. Reddy demonstrated the functioning of the ventilator at a press conference held in the city.

Speaking on the successful demonstration and launch of the ICo-Vent, abbreviated for Indian Covid Ventilator, Mr. Reddy said, “The successful development of this ventilator is testament to the capabilities of Indian engineering to solve global challenges. An original design that is conceptually new, the components used for manufacture of the ICo-Vent COVID-19 specific ventilator are freely available in most countries including India. The precision of the ventilator does not depend on sophisticated and expensive sensors and regulators. Today, the world needs a million ventilators and with current manufacturers unable to keep up with the supply, we are sure that the ICo-Vent, the first rapidly manufacturable COVID-19 specific ventilator will help to bridge the shortfall. It is the need of the hour and my focus is to ensure this invention benefits humanity.”

The unprecedented COVID-19 episode exposed the inadequacies of healthcare systems worldwide. Being a virus that affects the respiratory system resulting in ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome), governments and healthcare systems the world over suddenly found that they needed a lot more ventilators than they had to tackle the COVID situation, but not every ventilator works on COVID-19 positive patients. This led to a global race to design and build ventilators.

However, not all ventilators, Mechanized AMBU bags, CPAP machine, BIPAP machines can work for COVID-19 positive patients in critical care. The UK, Canada and other governments have come out with a set of specifications defining “the minimum clinically accepted criteria for a rapidly manufacturable ventilator to address the COVID-19 situation.” The Indian government is also in the process of coming out with a similar set of specifications. The ICo-Vent, meets these specifications. He said that A patent for the technology and function had already been applied for.

The ICo-Vent addresses the shortcoming of the conventional ventilators used in ICUs for critically ill patients. Most of the other ventilators especially those based on mechanized ambu bags provide no clinical benefits for use on COVID-19 patients, on the other hand, they can potentially cause ventilator induced lung injury and also put healthcare professionals under great risk as their operation can lead to the release of a huge viral load into the ICU atmosphere. Many healthcare workers in other countries have succumbed to this viral load.

The ICo-Vent specially designed for COVID-19 and ARDS patients also allows the Intensive Care specialist or the pulmonologist to order a precise volume of air and oxygen at a precise inspiration pressure and a precise expiration pressure considering the compliance or the elasticity of the lung. (Maxim News)