Covid India Campaign, a non-profit, volunteer-driven, disaster support task force is collaborating with Applied Materials India Private Limited to help support medical communities during the Covid-19 crisis. Covid India Campaign has engaged with specialists, including 3D printers, critical care experts, designers and engineers, under one roof to better gauge ventilator splitting techniques and designs to improve access among patients.

India is currently witnessing a shortage in the availability of ventilators leading to a sharp gap in supply and demand. Such limited access to respiratory support resources has created a strain on the medical fraternity; therefore, ideating towards ventilator splitting has taken precedence among non-profits in India.

Through this collaboration, Covid India Campaign and Applied Materials India are attempting to simplify the process of designing cost-effective ventilator splitters, which may be assembled in any part of the country. Applied Materials India is offering innovative open-source designs for low-cost ventilator splitters that are prototyped by Covid India Campaign’s vast network of labs. Covid India Campaign also provides access to the 3D printing community and a host of industry experts to help design firms to quickly and efficiently produce designs at scale. 

Ventilator splitters are intended to act as a stop-gap device, which can effectively double or quadruple the number of patients who can be treated using existing ventilators. The splitters should also assist hospitals in the interim until new shipments of ventilators are readily available.