This Hyderabad startup has developed an IoT-enabled portable ventilator for coronavirus patients
Aerobiosys Innovations’ new product JEEVAN Lite costs Rs 1 lakh, and can be easily moved due to its small size. It can provide both invasive and non-invasive ventilation to coronavirus patients.
One of the major problems faced by people suffering from coronavirus infection is respiratory distress. The patients have to be put on a ventilator to help them breathe. Apart from the lack of ventilator infrastructure in India to help the increasing number of coronavirus patients, normal ICU ventilators are expensive and also put the healthcare professionals at risk of contracting the infection.
To address these issues, Hyderabad-based has come up with an IoT-enabled ventilator system, JEEVAN Lite. Speaking to YourStory, Rajesh Thangavel, Co-founder, Aerobiosys, said, the low-cost and portable ventilator system can be used for both invasive and non-invasive ventilation.
Rajesh explained that the ventilator can also be used by patients in their homes, and the doctors can monitor the patients through a mobile application. This will prevent the healthcare professionals from contracting the infection.
“We have developed JEEVAN Lite, an IoT-enabled ventilator through which the caretakers or medical staff can monitor the graph and other parameters of the patients when they are on the ventilator from a distance using a mobile app,” says Rajesh.
Low-cost ventilation
Rajesh explains that many coronavirus patients are in need of ventilation support and not everyone can afford the treatment. According to Rajesh, the current ICU-based ventilators in the market cost a minimum of Rs 5 lakh. Apart from this, the ventilator normally weighs around 25 to 30 kg, making it difficult for people to move it in case the patient is to be shifted to another room.
Aerobiosys’ JEEVAN Lite will cost the patient Rs 1 lakh, and can be easily carried due to its smaller size. After adjusting the parameters accordingly, the device can be used for all patients ranging from paediatric to geriatric patients. The machine has a volume per breath from 200 to 2500 ml to suit the patients according to their needs.
Credit: Aerobiosys Innovations
Besides this, the machine can be used even during power cuts as it also works on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries uninterrupted for five hours.
“Another important advantage of the device is its alarm system. The system will automatically send alerts to the mobile application in case of any issues like air leakage, power cuts or no synchronous breathing by the patient.”
The machine comes with extra filters. According to Rajesh, if one machine is being used for providing ventilation to another patient, then the filter of the machine will have to be changed to avoid spread of infection.
Demand for the product
Earlier this month, Aerobiosys was nominated by Bengaluru-based incubator Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) as a deployment-ready COVID-19 innovation.
According to Rajesh, the company is expecting to complete its certification process in the next 10 days, and plans to begin manufacturing 20 units of the machine by the first week of May. “Some of the devices from the first lot will be used for reliability testing, where the device will run continuously for a long period of time, and some others will be used for a small-scale patient study,” Rajesh said. Once the company gets the regulatory approval, it will opt for mass manufacturing.
Rajesh said the company has already been receiving queries about the product from India as well as African markets. He said the company is in talks with Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka governments for deploying 100 units.
Edited by Javed Gaihlot