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Nigeria’s tech hardware developer, Jerry Mallo, has unveiled the first set of prototype ventilators in Jos, Plateau State to ink history as Africa’s most populous county of over 200 million fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Mallo with his team was commissioned by the Plateau State government weeks back to develop the ventilators. This week, they unveiled the prototype to assist in the treatment of COVID-19 patients having respiratory complications and confined inside the intensive care units (ICUs) of hospitals.
This is both history and a confirmation of the Governor Simon Lalong believe in the ability of our young people and his philosophy that Nigeria’s challenges will ultimately be addressed by homegrown solutions and skillsets,” said a senior government official in Jos to IT Edge News.
Governor Lalong is the chairman of the Plateau State Covid-19 Task Force which operates under four sub-committees including those of Awareness and advocacy; Medical Facility Management and Health Services; Enforcement; Border Management and Traffic; Secretariat and Logistics.
Funding for the development for the home-made ventilators came from the Task Force.
While expressing his confidence in the ability of the team to deliver results, Governor Lalong had noted: “In particular, one of our sons who has continued to make in-roads in innovation, Engr. Jerry Mallo has been engaged to produce ventilators while the duo of Engineers Nura Jibrin and William Gyang have resuscitated broken down ventilators at JUTH. We are grateful to them.”
Acute Ventilator Shortage
An acute ventilator shortage worldwide is one of the major problems crippling healthcare systems around the world, as they are essential for treating the critically ill patients with COVID-19.
While the world is racing to build more ventilators, scaling production and distribution has become difficult, as around 75 % of companies have reported supply chain disruptions.
Helmet-Based Ventilators (HBV)
In some countries, there are proposals for helmet-based ventilators (HBV) to alleviate the problem, as every country has the capability to manufacture them locally, which would enable the countries to re-supply the in-country hospitals with the necessary equipment.
“Local production of helmet-based ventilators can reinforce each country’s pandemic relief effort – the better medical professionals are equipped, the higher chance to reduce the fatality rate,” said Aurika Savickaite, team leader behind the initiative at NIV Technology.
Plateau opts for friendlier option
In Plateau State, Mallo and his team opted to develop a friendlier and less costly option that could easily be mass-produced to meet the country’s growing needs.
Lalong’s strategic drive to tame the COVID-19 pandemic in Plateau State via technology and homegrown efforts appear to be achieving results. Plateau state has reported only one case of COVID-19. But the national figure is on the rise. As at today, Nigeria’s confirmed cases are now 1,728 with 307 recoveries and 51 deaths. Worldwide, there are 3.19 million confirmed cases, 973, 000 recovered cases and over 228, 000 deaths. There is still no cure in sight according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) though vaccines and a blend of prescriptions including herbal remedies are being tested in UK, Israel and Madagascar.
