A team of engineers in Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria has unveiled a locally invented ventilator to enhance the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria.
Ventilators are machines that take over one’s breathing process when some disease (like coronavirus) has caused the lungs to fail and fall short in a critical function required to keep a patient alive as the immune system tries to fight off the infection. The bedside life-saver simply helps you acquire oxygen if you can’t do it sufficiently on your own due to distress.
Muhammad-Sani Sallau, the varsity’s director of equipment maintenance and development centre, who spoke during the unveiling of the equipment on Friday, said ABU has made a breakthrough and is working towards safeguarding the innovation of the product.
“We are currently processing the patenting as well as trademarking to further safeguard the product,” said Sallau, who is also the team leader and acting dean, Faculty of Physical Sciences.
“We are receiving maximum cooperation from government agencies in this regard.”
He added that the university was in the process of getting the needed equipment to produce more ventilators as part of its academic research contribution in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
The team leader also said they had received all the necessary support from the appropriate authorities.
“As a research centre, we only invent but look for companies and organisations to sponsor the project for mass production,” he said
According to him, universities are research centres and their mandate is to develop the technology for manufacturers to buy into their research development.
Sallau urged government to fund the innovation to help boost mass production of the home made ventilator.
He said such development would also assist to reduce import of ventilators as well as save foreign exchange.
According to him, Raw Materials Research and Development Centre (RMRDC) have acknowledged that ventilator produced by ABU engineers was the best among those produced with local materials they came across.
He said RMRDC has also promised to link up the university with the presidential task force on COVID-19 to endorse the project for sponsorship.
“The engineers have dedicated themselves particularly at this period of lockdown to invent the ventilator for the nation’s development,” he said.
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