Harsh Mariwala pitches for domestic and affordable ventilators

Harsh Mariwala, Chairman of Marico and founder of Marico Innovation Foundation, has pitched for domestic innovation to produce ventilators but they should be reliable and affordable. Adding to that, he said some domestically developed ventilators had certain defects and it brought a bad name to Indian ventilators.

He was talking about the recently concluded challenge where the Marico Innovation Foundation selected three innovations to provide affordable ventilator solutions amid COVID-19 crisis for funding. 

During a candid chat with Swati Khandelwal, Zee Business, Mariwala, said the challenge had two segments (i) PPE equipment and (ii) ventilator. Adding to it, he said, the winners of PPE equipment were announced about one and a half months ago because it was easy to judge as it is non-technical. However, a lot of technology is involved in the case of ventilators and we must be sure that the ventilator we are promoting and providing grant is very reliable as well as innovative.

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Talking about the way the winners of the ventilators segment were selected, Mariwala said, our jury studied it deeply and announced 3 winners and they are Shreeyash Electro Medicals, Nocca Robotics and KPIT Technologies. The ventilators manufactured by these three winners are very economical compared to international ventilators and their price is 70% to 80% lower than imported ventilators. They also have advanced features and has either got a certificate or is about the get it. 

The machines selected for the foundation's grant have advanced features and have either got certificates or is about to get it.

KPIT Technology is a handheld device and it weighs around 10 KG and it can be deployed in rural areas, remote medical facilities and ambulances. It can be used in-home care. It will not require a specialized doctor. So, as there is an increase in the incidences of COVID spreads across the world, these ventilators of KPIT will be very economical in the case when there is an increase in COVID and it spreads across the world. It will cost around Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.50 lakhs and can be used in medical centres in rural areas as well as at homes. Thus, this is very innovative. 

The other two ventilators of Nocca and Shreeyash are advanced and should be used at hospitals.

Nocca Robotics is very advanced ventilator and is made for high-end use. It costs between Rs 3.50 lakhs to Rs 4 lakhs. It is lightweight and affordable. It is turbine-based and can run on battery back-up for eight hours in the absence of electricity. It has been accredited in NABL laboratory.

He said that the ventilators have been tested well and are reliable, However, he said, some of the domestically developed ventilators launched earlier had certain quality defects, which lessened the confidence on India-made ventilators and brought a bad name to it. This is why we have studied these innovations deeply and the winners are innovative and reliable.