With the number of Covid-19 cases rising in the country, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur is developing portable ventilators which will be significantly cheaper than the ones available in the market.
Professors at IIT Kanpur claim that while invasive ventilators are available at around Rs 4 lakh per unit in the market, this ventilator will be made at a cost of Rs 70,000 per unit as all the components have been sourced from India only.

Two graduates from the institute---Nikhil Kurule and Harshit Rathore -- who are running a start-up called "Nocca Robotics" incubated at IIT Kanpur, have developed a prototype for the portable ventilator.
IIT, Kanpur has formed a nine-member team, including doctors from Narayana Institute of Cardiac Sciences (NICS), Bangalore to vet the prototype following which the start-up will get around 1000 portable ventilators ready within a month.
According to the team, the prototype developed is an invasive type mechanical ventilator capable of operating in pressure-controlled mode.
The ventilator will be permanently connected to a mobile phone which will be used to control the device and display critical information. The device will not require any form of medical air and will be capable of operating on its own in ambient air. There will also be a provision for attaching oxygen cylinder, when required.
"Covid-19 has hit mankind as a catastrophe. When even the sophisticated countries like US and Italy which have wonderful medical infrastructure are dealing with the onslaught of this virus, in India we are grossly unprepared," said Amitabha Bandhopadhay, Professor and Incharge IIT Kanpur Incubation Centre.
"These patients, particularly the elderly one will need access to ventilators and we have very few spare ventilators. We are making an effort to make ventilators as fast as possible, possibly within a month's time. Without any manufacturing base for ventilators, it is not going to be easy, therefore we have formed a team with technical as well as medical experts," he added.