Alumni of Don Bosco Technical College (DBTC) have teamed up to create a low-cost ventilator to meet the increasing demand of the medical appliance because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
The Don Bosco Ventilator (DB Ventilator) is 28 times cheaper than its commercial counterparts. The group, dubbed as BRO72 BosconianReachOut, said their ventilators would cost P25,000 to P35,000, while commercial ventilators could cost up to a million pesos each.
The inventors said they aim to provide cheap ventilators to public and rural hospitals that can’t afford the equipment.Their invention utilizes the ambu bag — a low-cost, manual hand-pumped device that helps a patient breathe — and aims to build a robotic hand “to emulate the doctor’s hand-pumping.”
The mechanical engineers, computer scientists and doctors who created DB Ventilator based it on an open-source technology designed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology called E-Vent or Emergency Ventilator.“We may not be equipped to challenge the commercially expensive and less available ventilators, but we are here to give immediate hope and remedy to many Filipinos who may soon need this equipment,” they said.
This comes at an opportune time where our government and our citizens needs all the help and support it needs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
With additional reports: The Manila Times, John Eric Mendoza
Photo Sources: Abner Mercado, ctto
