Ventilator Designed by Young Slovak Scientists Goes into Production

Bratislava, April 27 (TASR) - An alternative volume-regulated portable lung ventilator called Q-vent, which was designed by young Slovak scientists, has already gone into serial production, TASR learnt on Monday. The lung ventilator, which provides bridging ventilation in conditions in which it isn't possible to use professional equipment, was created by PhD students of the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Department at the Bratislava-based Comenius University, Samuel Furka and Daniel Furka, head of the outpatient chemotherapy department of the National Oncology Institute Patrik Palacka and student of Comenius's Medical Faculty Dalibor Gallik. As soon as serial production of the ventilator was launched, it was offered free of charge to Italy and other countries as part of humanitarian aid via the Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry. Using an airway tube, Q-vent assists a sedated patient to breathe for 24 hours and in portable mode for six hours. Its sensor indicates when the patient wakes up and begins to breathe spontaneously. Its filter contains a UV steriliser and a special ceramic filter insert that was produced via 3D printing by Marian Janek's team from the Inorganic Materials Department of the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava. The scientific team financed the development of the device from its own resources, and serial production was launched thanks to support from the dean's office of Comenius's Faculty of Natural Sciences and two companies called Koval Systems and Embasys. The creators of the project pointed to the fact that financial support is needed in order to continue production, and the young scientists have asked several institutions for this. "Paradoxically, gaining at least a small amount of financial support for a project that represents Slovakia in the international context is much more demanding than the whole process of development, testing and launching the serial production of the device," stated Samuel Furka. The project's creators believe that Slovak governmental institutions will support serial production of the Q-vent ventilator so that clinical testing can start as soon as possible. ko/df