Pakistan may mass produce ventilators through 3D printing

LAHORE: A group of volunteers called Pakistan Against COVID19 – Volunteers group (PAC-V) plans to use 3D printing to produce affordable ventilators, respiratory valves etc indigenously, in large numbers, at large scale and within a short span of time.

These volunteers have come together to develop affordable solutions to combat COVID19. They comprise doctors, biomedical professionals, engineers, academics , Pakistani diaspora, resource mobilizes, and other smaller groups. These Pakistani professionals aim at 3D printing and manufacturing ventilators, valves and required equipment for frontline response to Cornonavirus. The group has announced that the first 3D ventilator prototype will be ready for testing in 10 days.

The 3D printing process builds a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design model (CAD) usually by successively adding material layer by layer, which is why it is also called additive manufacturing.

The group is getting and seeking support from the nation to scale up the initiative for larger impact that requires resources and facilitation at different levels.

Dr. Bilal Siddiqui, PhD is leading the volunteers in this initiative. Bilal and other volunteers were concerned about the emerging challenge of the COVID19 pandemic, and its unprecedented critical stress on the healthcare system of Pakistan. Lack of medical equipment to cater to the needs of the patients is a major bottleneck. Medical equipment, which is affordable and optimized for conditions in Pakistan is totally missing. High costs, logisticals issues, manufacturing countries’ inability to fulfill export demands due to their own local demands etc has made import of this equipment even more difficult.

Bilal put things into motion by starting with his students, and reaching out to academia and industry. The aim was to develop affordable and replicable solutions for combating COVID19 challenges.

The group is growing daily and has over 100 engineers, medical professionals, professors,  entrepreneurs and resource mobilisers working tirelessly in various teams to produce various solutions rapidly. The group’s active collaboration is currently focused on developing local design and engineering solutions to make available the following equipment

– low-cost and massively available respiratory ventilators,

– portable oxygen supplies,

– face masks and protection screens,

– respiratory valves,

– viral media tubes

– non-contact thermometers,

– retrofitting existing vents to serve multiple patients;

– and arranging 3d printing farms, manufacturing and funding support across the nation to deal with the COVID19 crisis situation

Once the solutions are developed, tested and approved for medical use, then they will be deployed across the nation. Arrangements are underway for making available the funds for mass manufacturing by connecting the idle 3D printer capacity as farms, and coordinating a manufacturing grid across the nation.

The nation has joined in contributing to prototyping and a number of the above items are already moving into testing including field validations. The group members are in touch with the NDMA, hospitals, provincial governments and a large number of contributing organisations across the country.

The post Pakistan may mass produce ventilators through 3D printing appeared first on News Lens Pakistan.

from Economic Development – News Lens Pakistan https://ift.tt/3dnuiaY