Emergency deployment of a lower cost, locally made ventilator could help save the lives of COVID-19 patients in Colombia, reports the Associated Press.
The machine called the Heron looks like many other ventilators used to treat COVID-19 patients. There’s a screen atop a metallic box that displays the amount of oxygen being pumped into a person’s lungs and a plastic tube that delivers it to the patient.
But this device costs about $4,000—a fifth of the price of ventilators imported from China—and it’s made in Colombia, where some hospitals have been overwhelmed by coronavirus patients.
Engineers hope the recently begun emergency deployment of the ventilators could save hundreds of lives and make Colombia a pioneer in low-cost equipment for COVID-19 patients.
Read the full article from the Associated Press.
