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| The home-built ventilator could be copied for as little as $300 (AFP Photo/ Ahmad Idres Naderi) |
A team of
robot-designing girls in Afghanistan is trying to build a low-cost medical
ventilator from car parts, as health authorities look to boost critical-care
capabilities for coronavirus patients in the impoverished country.
If the
teenagers succeed and can get government approval for their prototype, they say
it could be replicated for as little as $300, where normally ventilators sell
for around $30,000.
"The
team is working with local health specialists, as well as experts from Harvard
University, to produce the prototype based on a design by Massachusetts
Institute of Technology," said Roya Mahboob, who runs an Afghan tech
company and sponsors the team of five girls, aged 14-17.
They are
part of a bigger group of high-achieving high school girls known as the
"Afghan Dreamers", from the western city of Herat, where coronavirus
is on the rise after thousands of people returned from neighbouring Iran as it
experienced a spike in cases.
The girls
made headlines in 2017 after being denied visas to take part in a robotics
competition in Washington -- before President Donald Trump intervened and they
were allowed to travel.
They are
taking engine and battery parts from a Toyota Corolla -- ubiquitious on the
streets of Afghanistan -- to produce a prototype they started designing after
the Herat governor called for more ventilators as coronavirus cases rose.
Central to
the ventilator is a self-inflating plastic sac known as an Ambu bag that
medical staff use to help patients breathe. The girls' prototype uses a
mechanical system to operate the bag automatically and accurately.
"The
complicated part is how to adjust the timing and pressure of pumping, as
different patients require different volume and pressure of air based on their
age and the severity of their condition," Somaya Farooqi, the team's
17-year-old captain, told AFP.
With a
population of 35 million, Afghanistan only has about 300 ventilators.
Wahidullah
Mayar, a spokesman for Afghanistan's health ministry, said officials have asked
specialists and engineers to help the team.
"We
appreciate and encourage these hardworking girls, our sisters, for their
efforts to produce ventilators," Mayar said.
Any
ventilator prototype would have to be approved by the World Health Organization
and the Afghan health ministry before the team could start producing more
devices, Mayar said.
As of
Wednesday, Afghan officials had reported at least 784 coronavirus cases and 24
deaths across the country. The true number of cases is feared to be much
higher, as only limited testing kits are available.
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