Klojen (malangkota.go.id) – In a small workshop called UB Tech located south of the Rectorate Building of Brawijaya University, Malang, a small team consisting of a lecturer and eight students from the Faculty of Engineering worked day and night trying hard to complete a local ventilator.
Commercial ventilators that are still imported are now needed by referral hospitals that treat Covid-19 patients. Unfortunately, the procurement of these devices is hampered by their very expensive price, which is between Rp300 million and Rp600 million per unit. As the number of Covid-19 sufferers continues to increase, the need for ventilators also continues to increase. This condition is the reason for the UB Tech team to create and develop a new ventilator.
Head of the ventilator manufacturing team, Waru Djuritno, Tuesday (12/05/2020), revealed that by utilizing simple materials and widely available on the market, this local respiratory aid has begun to be developed. Although not similar to imported ventilators, the work of lecturers and students has a level of accuracy similar to medical standards.
"A number of electronic and mechanical sensors collaborate in regulating every breath of a Covid-19 patient, so that the oxygen intake is in accordance with what the patient needs and means that the oxygen that comes out will not be wasted if it is not needed," added Waru.
In addition to its function as an imported medical ventilator, he explained, this innovation has another advantage, namely in terms of rupiah value or manufacturing costs. "Although still in the trial and refinement stage, this ventilator only requires procurement costs of less than Rp25 million per unit or less than ten percent of the price of a commercial ventilator," explained Waru.
So regarding the ventilator itself, he said the level of accuracy actually depends on the components used or spare parts used. But as far as I know, the components available on the market can actually be used to meet that level of accuracy.
"It's just that to get characteristics that are very similar to commercial ventilators, we have to use special components too. For example, to get airflow that can really follow the patient's needs," Waru explained.
