Srinagar entrepreneur develops portable, cheap ventilator to help fight COVID-19 | KNO

Kashmir News Observer (KNO)

Srinagar, July 31 (KNO): Dismayed over the lack of health care facilities across Kashmir amid COVID-19 pandemic, a 23-year-old Srinagar based entrepreneur Waseem Nadaf has developed a cheap and portable ventilator to fight this deadly virus. Waseem Nadaf, locally known as “Unique Waseem” CEO let breathe technology is a social innovator and recognized by national innovation foundation, honey bee network, SRISTI, Gian cell, JKEDI, University of Kashmir and Xingchang university China for his outstanding innovations overs the years. Talking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Waseem said that she was an average student but had keen interest in making new things out of the old gadgets to produce social friendly equipment like this ventilator-c. He said that he is a social innovator and he has developed a prototype ventilator by assembling some home gadgets at his home which he named as “Ventilator-C. “This Ventilator-C keeps the oxygen flow regulated and the oxygen (tidal volume) supply can be controlled by a simple button or knob. The prototype is fully regulated, secured and adoptable, so in case a patient jerks, coughs or sneezes, it will automatically be regulated by the in-built circuit.” He said that he will also develop a mobile app, designated to moderate the ventilator device. “The ‘Ambu bag’, the oxygen carrying pipes, and the mouth mask are biologically neutral and it does not provide a host for any life form to sustain. It works on a 12 volt battery and AC current as well, which makes ventilator-C a portable device,” he said. Waseem said that the ventilator-C has 6 different calibrations with multiple frequencies which help it to regulate per minute cycle/flow of oxygen. “It consumes electricity of less than a 20 watt bulb. It is very easy to assemble and very cost effective and I am also working on the construction of an artificial intelligence which will be integrated in the ventilator-C based on pure scientific research, innovation, experiment, testing and suggestions from scholars, doctors and experts from all over the world.” He further said that the prototype is completely made of scrap and he used all the available resources, scratch from his home and neighbourhood to innovate this device. “It costs less than Rs1500 while the assembly time per unit is 15-20 minutes besides that a simple circuit is required to make the device working. It is a green technology product and a portable device,” he said—(KNO)