Country-made ventilator waiting for clinical trial: Palak

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DHAKA, April 28, 2020 (BSS) – State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed
Palak today said Bangladeshi tech-giant Walton, with the technical support
from the US based medical device and solution providing company Medtronic,
has been able to produce world-class ventilators, mechanical breathing
devices.

“We have been able to produce world-class ‘WPB 560’ in our country and
functional prototypes of three models of the ventilator would soon be handed
over to Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) for clinical trial,” he
said.

The state minister said these while addressing a virtual press briefing
today.

He added that after receiving no objection certificate from DGHS, Walton
would be able to go into production on commercial level, an official release
said.

“Of the three models of the functional prototype, one ‘WPB 560’ was jointly
produced by Walton and Medtronic, the other two ‘WCV-20’ and ‘WAB-20’ were
own invention of the Bangladeshi technological company. We are hoping that we
would be able to meet the demand of ventilators with our country-made
products,” Palak added.

The state minister for ICT Division also thanked LICT Project of his
division for coordinating between Medtronic and Walton to take this work
forward.

Apart from Walton, 18 other ventilators were made by a2i innovation lab,
which are now being evaluated.

ICT Division Senior Secretary N M Zeaul Alam, ITES Policy Adviser of LICT
Project Sami Ahmed, Walton’s Ventilator Project head Engineer Golam Morshed,
Walton director Liyakat Ali, Medtronic representative and newsmen attended
the virtual briefing, among others.