To Prepare For The Worst Situation, ITI And DRDO Partner To Make Portable Ventilators

DRDO (the Defence Research and Development Organisation) and ITI Limited – an electronics manufacturing company are about to sign an agreement to manufacture portable ventilators.

According to ITI, the production is expected to start around two and a half months after the signing date of its memorandum of understanding with DRDO.

80 to 90% of the components will be from the country while the rest will be imported. The production will begin in the Bengaluru plant.

The order’s size will determine the cost of these ventilators. But ITI said the the company wouldn’t charge high margins. It wasn’t possible to calculate the final cost since low volume production would mean high cost of components and vice versa.

ITI would start with material cost and orders right after DRDO transfers technology.

To prepare for the worst situation, by May 15, India might need around 110,000 to 220,000 ventilators. The country’s total number of available ventilators is 57,000 at a cost of Rs 5 to 15 lakh.

Agarwal, ITI’s Chairman and Managing Director said that compared to ICU ventilators, portable ventilor will be more cost-effective. The manufacturing of these portable ventilator can be expanded to three other locations besides Bengaluru including Uttar Pradesh’s Mankapure and Rae Bareily, and Kerala’s Palakkhad.

Recently, the Defence Research and Development Organization has converted firefighting equipment into disinfection machines. These devices will be deployed to sanitize roads as well as other surfaces.

>>> DRDO Converts Firefighting Equipment Into Disinfection Machines