Armenia-manufactured mechanical ventilators ready for clinical tests, minister says

YEREVAN, February 9. /ARKA/. Five mechanical ventilators, designed and manufactured in Armenia as part of a pilot program are ready for clinical trials, High Technologies Industry Minister Hakob Arshakyan said at a press conference on Tuesday.

In April 2020, the ministry, in cooperation with the Engineering Association, initiated the development of ventilators for treatment of patients infected with COVID-19.

“Five ventilators have already been manufactured and have passed the testing stage and now must undergo clinical trials,” Arshakyan said.

According to him, such complex equipment, especially in the field of medicine, has not yet been developed in Armenia.

The minister recalled that the project was implemented on the basis of the licensed platform of the American NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which was provided only to 28 out of 330 companies in the world, including the Armenian YEA Engineering, which were recognized winners of a special tender.

On April 16, 2020, the government of Armenia released 90 million drams as a grant to the Engineering Association for the development of prototypes of artificial lung ventilation devices. The decision was prompted by the spread of coronavirus that caused a shortage of ventilators.

It is expected that the cost of Armenian mechanical ventilators will be twice as low as the market price, and Armenia will be able to produce about 40-50 devices per month. At the same time, the global demand for mechanical ventilators is estimated at 800 thousand devices. -0-