Researchers Develop Inexpensive Disposable Ventilator to Treat COVID-19 Patients

A team of Israeli researchers has developed an inexpensive disposable ventilator specifically tailored to treat COVID-19 patients and has received approval from Israel's Health Ministry for the use of its prototype in a pilot study.

Together with COVID-19 Sprint, a technology task force led by Assuta Ashdod Hospital, Rafael Advanced Technology and Weizmann Institute of Science, a doctoral student at Tel Aviv University's Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering focused on producing a cheap, disposable ventilator from existing parts that are widely available. Their disposable ventilator, called MANSHEMA, is cheap, suitable for mass production, and easy to use, and can work non-stop for three months at a stretch. Most critically for the novel coronavirus, the cheaply produced ventilator is tossed out after each use, drastically reducing the risk of infection by medical staff and hospital patients.

MANSHEMA is a flow-driven, electronically-controlled system that allows the patient to determine his or her own respiratory rate and to alert of malfunctions and respiratory failures. The system assists the patient to breath by providing what's called Bi-level Positive Pressure, meaning the system maintains a positive pressure at all times to assist in cases of respiratory distress. Both exhalation and inhalation pressures can be adjusted by both the patient and medical staff. The system is non-invasive and particularly suited to low to moderate risk patients.

"Coronary disease is highly contagious," said Stav Bar-Sheshet, a doctoral student of engineering engaged in research for the project. "The unique idea of the disposable respirator is that after being used on one patient, it will be destroyed and a new ventilator applied to a subsequent patient."