The First Technical University (Tech-U), Ibadan, has produced two prototypes of ventilators.
While one is digital, the other is mechanical, with the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Ayobami Salami, saying the consideration for situations where there might not be electricity made the production of the mechanical ventilator necessary.
Tech-U’s team of researchers, engineers, technologists and students, led by Dr. Olawale Ajibola from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, presented prototypes to the management on Tuesday.
Also at the unveiling of the ventilators were the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adesola Ajayi; the Registrar, Mrs Olayinka Balogun and Bursar, Mr Kehinde Olatokun.
Commending the team for the feat, which he described as timely, Salami said the successful production of the equipment indicated that the university was determined to prove its relevance as a theory and practice-oriented one.
He said, “Our country and the world in general are facing a common strong enemy at the moment. Apart from disrupting almost every facet of our lives, COVID-19 has proved to everyone that you cannot, as a people, always rely on other nations for survival because everyone is primarily now fighting its own battle, trying to primarily save the lives of its own people. The best we can, therefore, do for ourselves as Nigerians is to turn the adversity created by coronavirus into a blessing by looking inwards and devising strategies and solutions that will be useful even after the pandemic might have gone.
“Amid the current crisis, many people have been asking questions concerning what Nigerian universities have been doing to stop the disease. Indeed, they are extending the question to other fundamental challenges that the country is facing, including those bordering on power generation and supply. These are valid questions because tertiary institutions must be at the centre of national development for them to be able to worth their names. Of course, there is a big hole in this regard in the Nigerian education industry and that is what Technical University is poised to fill.”
The Vice Chancellor further said that the management would present the ventilators to the Governor of Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde, who is also the Visitor of the university.
Explaining the making of the equipment, Ajibola, stressed that a ventilator or respirator is an appliance for artificial respiration.
According to him, a patient is placed on a ventilator to treat respiratory conditions such as apnea, hypoxia, trauma and other such conditions as may impede adequate supply of oxygen to the respiratory system of the body.
He said on the digitally-controlled ventilator, “This design employs humidifier, compressed air, oxygen inlet and electro-pneumatic valves for its operation. The principle is based on the breathing rate per minute (bpm) of an adult by simultaneously controlling the operation of the valves with the ultimate goal of delivering clean air to the oxygen mask attached to the face of the patient. This design is fully automated.”
Concerning the mechanical, he said the bag valve mask popularly known as the Ambu-bag is used for emergency manual ventilation or resuscitation.
