Globally, over one million people have been tested positive for COVID-19, with nearly 70,000 deaths, according to Worldometers. Many countries are working to develop vaccines, medication, treatment, and implement preventive measures to cope with the situation.





Picture for representational purposes only





The demand for medical equipment is rising with the number of cases piling up. To make up for the shortage, Rajkot-based private company, Jyoti CNC Automation Limited, has developed low-cost ventilators in a short span of 10 days, and will be delivering them to government-run hospitals in the coming days.





The ventilators have been tested at a medical lab at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, and are being used on patients since Saturday.





Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani took a special interest in the cause and had earlier urged companies to come forward and take up the initiative.





"When we have skills and big industries here, the Gujarat government decided to use it. Rajkot is considered as an engineering hub. Small scale industries of Rajkot supply engineering parts to NASA, ISRO, Railways and for defence production," Rupani told EdexLive.





He further mentioned that the company had designed these ventilators, made the prototype, procured the necessary parts, and then built them. These ventilators were put into action after being properly tested. They passed both engineering requirements and medical requirements testing as well.





"A team of nearly 150 people has been working day and night for the last 10 days to develop a 'Made in India' ventilator. Due to the lockdown and ban on international travel and goods movement, we cannot procure any parts from abroad. So we procured the ventilator parts from 26 different companies in India,” the company's owner Prakaramsinh Jadeja told NDTV.





According to Jadeja, the market cost for a single ventilator is Rs 6.5 lakh, but their ventilators were manufactured for just Rs 1 lakh, creating a wide margin of difference. They will manufacture about 100 machines in a day. This base model, 'Dhaman 1', will meet the requirements for COVID-19 patients.





The company will donate 1,000 ventilators to Gujarat government. Many state-run hospitals are already in touch with the company. They will be supplying these ventilators to the other states as well.





As of today, there are about 122 positive coronavirus cases in Gujarat, with 10 reported deaths. The countrywide lockdown is expected to end on April 14.





(Edited by Kanishk Singh)





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