Walton, a local technology company, has manufactured prototypes of three ventilators of three models. Two of these are their own models and one is designed by the world-renowned medical device company Medtronic.
State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak will announce the manufacture of the prototype at an online press conference on Tuesday (April 28) afternoon.
Earlier, on March 31, Medtronic handed over the patent, design and source code of their PB-560 model ventilator to the Information and Communication Technology Department through a video conference.
It is learned that now the ventilators will be given for a clinical test in a hospital. Walton will go into large-scale ventilator production later based on its report.
An official in the company's information and communication technology department said Medtronic’s Hyderabad research and development team has worked closely with Walton and the Bangladesh government.
Several Walton officials have expressed confidence that the ventilators will pass the quality test. However, they have not yet come to a decision on the price of this technology product.
Omar Ishraq, a former chairman of Medtronic and CEO of Bangladesh origin, who is now the head of processor company Intel, is the main source of getting the patent, design and source code of Medtronic ventilator by Bangladesh.
Initially, besides Walton, RFL, Minister and a few other companies were interested in making this ventilator. But in the end Walton got the job. Meanwhile, the Minister Company is also known to be making ventilators like them.
It currently costs at least Taka 7 lakh to import a ventilator from China. It takes Taka 18 to 20 lakh to bring from Europe.
A ventilator is a device that keeps patients breathing in an alternative way. In many cases, the lungs do not function properly when infected with coronavirus. As a result, many are dying due to suffocation.
Ventilators are in great demand not only in Bangladesh but all over the world. The availability of ventilators in Bangladesh is very low compared to need.
According to the concerned, there are only about one thousand ventilators in Bangladesh at the moment. And in the current situation, there is no opportunity to import ventilators at the moment. In that case, if a person infected with coronavirus starts having breathing trouble, it is very unlikely that he will be saved.