Amid COVID-19 pandemic, IUST innovators create ‘frugal’ ventilator prototype

Innovators at the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) Awantipora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district have claimed to have set up a prototype of a low cost ventilator to tackle the shortage of ventilators amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A statement by the varsity said that the innovators at the IUST’s Design Innovation Centre (DIC) had tested the ventilator prototype, named ‘Ruhdaar’ successfully in the laboratory.
It said the ventilator is expected to be handed over to the medical experts at the SKIMS hospital Soura for evaluation purposes which will immediately begin once the innovators are satisfied with its functioning in the laboratory.
The statement said that the raw materials for the said frugal ventilator are easily available within J&K and India.
Team members headed by Coordinator DIC, Dr Shahkar Nehvi, Dr Majid Hamid Koul, ex faculty IUST who recently joined the NIT, Peerzada Shoaib, Assistant professor IUST, two IUST Alumini Asif Shah and Zulquarnain, Jawad, Design Fellow IUST, Dr Saad Parvaiz from NIT Srinagar, Dr Shabir Hassan from Harvard University as overseas mentor and Abdul Rahim from Rahim Greens contributed towards the designing of the said prototype, the statement said.
It further said that there was a possibility that the ventilator is manufactured in A commercial scale once the prototype is approved by medical experts.
Vice Chancellor IUST, Prof Mushtaq A Siddiqi has congratulated the entire team for this huge achievement.
A statement quoted Prof Siddique as saying that he was thrilled over the team members for achieving the feat in a very short span of time adding that the components of the ventilator were mostly local.
The VC IUST said that the university will go for patenting and handover the technology to a start-up or couple of start-ups, so that the ventilator is produced on the large scale. Prof Siddiqi further added that the prototype is fine and alright, but it depends on the medical fraternity to accept it or