The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, has accused business conglomerate Mahindra and Mahindra of intellectual theft and breach of patent law.

According to the report of Hindustan Times, The Association of a resident doctor’s in an official release routed through the public relations department of the institute has claimed that Dr. Rajeev Chauhan, assistant professor in PGI’s department of anesthesia has been working on designing a low-cost ventilator over the past one year and filed a patent on December 22, 2019, with application no 201911053339 to Indian Patent Authority. The institute’s ethics committee has already given approval for this device in October last year.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar said that the “The Mahindras approached us via email due to the national emergency in the wake of COVID-19 and within 48 hours copied our innovation. The same mechanism has been applied using a linear actuator, which was we had developed. However, without giving due credit to developers, the Mahindras have claimed that it is their indigenous product.”

The official spokesperson of the business group said they were dismayed by these allegations and will issue a statement on Thursday.

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However, PGIMER’s official release stated that “We (doctors) are starting a social media drive and will appeal to PMO and other high officials to intervene and protect the interests of our young innovators from the big sharks. This is against patent laws and demoralizing for young innovators of the nation’s premier institutes.”