COVID ventilators supplied to States, UTs have Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure mode, cost-effective: Centre

New Delhi: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Wednesday said that "Make in India" COVID ventilators supplied to states and Union Territories (UTS) have Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure (BiPAP) mode and are very cost-effective.

The Ministry said that the "Make in India" ventilators supplied to the states and UTs, including Delhi, by the MoHFW are meant for ICUs and these ventilators also have other such modes as have been prescribed in the technical specifications.

"The ventilators are being supplied along with User Manuals and Feedback Forms which must be referred to for clarity," the MoHFW said.

The Ministry comes with the clarification following some media reports that the issue of BiPAP mode not being available in the ventilators supplied by the Central government.

BiPAP is probably the most common mode noninvasive positive pressure ventilation and requires provisions for inspiratory positive airway pressure (IPAP) and expiratory positive airway pressure (EPAP).

It further said that the technical specifications for these COVID ventilators have been laid down by a Technical Committee of domain knowledge experts headed by the Director-General Health Services (DGHS), MoHFW against which the ventilators have been procured and supplied.

The ventilators procured and supplied comply with these specifications, it said.

"Ventilator models BEL and AgVa supplied to the states and UTs are complying with the requirements as per the specifications laid down by the Technical Committee."

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