Govt to start making ventilators as soon as possible: ICT state minister
The government will manufacture ventilators by engaging with local technological conglomerate Walton and with the support of Medtronic, an international medical device company, as the country grapples with the growing coronavirus outbreak.
Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for the ICT division, made the announcement today at an online press conference and said Bangladesh will be able to manufacture the ventilators as soon as possible.
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 is an essential tool to treat patients with severe symptoms.
"We have already huge chat with the Medtronic team, that was run by an iconic Bangladeshi expatriate Omar Ishrak, is now chairman of the Intel, and they have assured us to help in to manufacture ventilators in our country," said Palak.
Palak and his team had attended a video conference on Saturday with the research and development team of Medtronic, who said they would share their source code, said Palak.
"We are very hopeful of getting their source code and patent by Wednesday [April 1] and might go into manufacturing within a short time," he added.
The junior state minister said he has already informed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of this development and talked with Health Minister Zahed Maleque over phone.
"It will be a huge milestone for Bangladesh as Medtronic assured us that they would open their patent for us and our engineers will get a chance to work with their research and development team," Palak said.
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