LAHORE: After successful clinical trial on critical Covid-19 patients at Services Hospital, a group of Pakistani students studying abroad has applied to the Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan (DRAP) for approval of the low-cost portable ventilator to meet the dearth of the life-saving equipment.

The breathing device was the brainchild of a group of young and inspiring students from Pakistan studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA and the Boston University.

“In 2018, a delegation of the students had contacted the Services Institute of Medical Sciences, Lahore regarding the possibility of help in the developing of the low-cost portable ventilator,” Prof Dr Mahmood Ayaz told Dawn.

Prof Ayaz said that he had constituted a committee comprising Prof Javed Raza Gardezi and Professor Kamran Khalid Chima. He (Prof Ayaz) himself was also part of the committee.

After approval by the ethical review board a collaboration was started. “A randomized clinical trial was conducted by the team at the Services Hospital in which 30 patients were hired,” he said. The study was conducted at medical ICU from Sept 2018 to Dec 2019 with Prof Kamran Chima being the principal investigator.

The ventilator has already been granted Food and Drug Authority (FDA) USA emergency use authorization, he said.

After completion of the trial, Mr Moiz Imam, one of the inventors, visited the SIMS Lahore and presented two portable ventilators to support the fight against the Covid.

“We have also started a research with the help of these ventilators,” Prof Ayaz said.

He said the unique feature of this ventilator was that it can easily be moved or transported from one ward to another to treat a critical patient.

“It helped our medics during pandemic of the coronavirus at the Services Hospital and critical shortage of the same in state-run hospitals when we moved it from operation theater to the ICU and from ward to the emergency unit,” he said.

“A small, white and blue block of metal and plastic, the Umbulizer rhythmically delivers air to patients’ lungs and limbs like a normal ventilator,” said Mr Moiz, one of the inventors, while talking to Dawn. He said it costs less than its hospital-grade counterpart, which can carry a price tag of up to $50,000, or about 10 times more.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2020