Bangladesh to locally manufacture ventilators soon

The government today received the patent, design and source code of making ventilators from Medtronic, an international medical device company, and can now locally manufacture local manufacturing it to better face the coronavirus outbreak.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for the ICT division, made the announcement at an online press conference and said they will hold a meeting with Medtronic's Hyderabad research and development team tomorrow.

The meeting will also be attended by local technology companies who are interested in making the equipment.

"We are not sure how long it will take to make ventilators in the country but once the first device is manufactured then the process will become easier and bulk manufacturing will come after that," said Palak.

He said it might take a few weeks to complete the whole process and the price will be much lesser than the imported ventilators.

"Walton showed interest and at the same time some other local technology companies also expressed interest [in manufacturing the equipment]," Palak added.

At the same press conference, the Military Institute of Science and Technology also declared that they are very close to completing the development of ventilators in the country and plan to go for testing on April 4.

A ventilator is a mechanical breathing device essential for patients suffering from breathing problems and respiratory illness. As Covid-19 is a virus that attacks the lungs, ventilators are essential to treat patients with severe symptoms.