Walton prepares three ventilators for clinical trials

Tech company Walton today handed over prototypes of three locally developed ventilators to the Information Communication Technology division for placing it before the Directorate General of Health Services for clinical trials.

Of the three ventilators, one has been developed according to the design and using components of the globally renowned medical device company Medtronic. Walton has developed the other two on their own, it said in an online press briefing organised by the ICT division.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for the ICT division, has received the ventilators from Walton and will send it to the DGHS for testing tomorrow.

"We have received 18 ventilators from different organisations and individuals and are evaluating those," said Palak.

He said Walton's PB560 model will be technically sound as Medtronic directly supervised it through their Dhaka staff and Hyderabad (India) office.

Thanking Medtronic and Omar Ishrak, chairman of the board of Intel and head of Medtronic, the state minister said without his personal support this would not have been possible.

"Now DGHS will decide where they will test these ventilators and for how long they will be tested," said Palak.

Walton has already ordered equipment for production of the ventilators and those will be in the country by last week of May and after that they will start manufacturing, said Golam Murshed, executive director of Walton.

On March 31, the government received the patent, design and source code of making ventilators from Medtronic.

NM Zeaul Alam, senior secretary of the ICT division, and senior executives of Walton also spoke at the session.

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.