Coronavirus: Uganda University Develops Ventilator For COVID-19 Patients

The leadership of Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda says it has made progress in developing a low-cost Ventilator for use in curing covid-19 patients.

The university said two prototypes of the design would be ready for testing by Friday 10th April, 2020.

The university tweeted this on Tuesday.

The development, according to the tweet, was a collaboration between the university , ResilientAfrica Network (RAN), Kiira Motors Corporation and the nation’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The university said they had to embark on the project because ventilators on the global market were expensive (Price of USD 25,000 per ventilator) for a developing country like Uganda.

“There is therefore need for low cost ventilators that can be manufactured locally.

“Such ventilators would bolster the country’s surge capacity to provide critical care in case the demand for such care increases,” the school said in a press release.

We have made credible progress in designing a low cost Ventilator to support management of severe respiratory complications of Covid-19. Two prototypes of the design will be ready by Friday 10th April, 2020 so that the testing and iteration process can begin over the weekend. pic.twitter.com/YIO1K06Abb

— Makerere University (@MakerereU) April 7, 2020