A locally-made ventilator is introduced by a research team at Đà Nẵng-based Duy Tân College. The ventilator can be used for COVID-19 patients. — Photo courtesy Duy Tân College

ĐÀ NẴNG — A locally-made non-invasive ventilator has been introduced by Đà Nẵng-based private Duy Tân College to help the fight against COVID-19.

Head of the research team, Dr. Lê Hoàng Sinh, said the prototype ventilator was the first product made by the college to help beat the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the materials were sourced locally by engineers from the college.

Sinh said the team is finalising the design to soon put it into mass production at a cost of VNĐ20 million (US$870) each.

The DTU-vent can run on batteries for three hours in case of a power cut, he added.

A non-invasive ventilator made by local engineers of QCM Technologies at Đà Nẵng Hi-Tech Park. It's the first made-in-Đà Nẵng ventilator in the fight against COVID-19. — Photo courtesy Nguyễn Thành Chương

Local firm QCM Technologies, an embedded software system developer, also debuted a non-invasive ventilator at Đà Nẵng’s high-tech park.

Nguyễn Thành Chương, director of the company, said the non-invasive prototype ventilator was manufactured by engineers and workers at the company.

“We could manufacture 20 non-invasive ventilators a day. It uses 50 per cent local materials for a competitive price of VNĐ25 million ($1,000) each," Chương said.

He said the prototype ventilator was produced using recommendations from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the US Food and Drug Administration.

The company plans to produce ventilators for export in the future, he added.

QCM, which was granted an investment licence at the park in 2017, has been a unique provider of technology solutions – including shrimp size and weight grading machines – for domestic use and export.

Also on Tuesday, the city’s young business association presented two ventilators and 1,000 COVID-19 test kits (worth $62,000) to Đà Nẵng general hospital and centre for disease control. — VNS