DRDO Develops Ventilators | 27 Mar 2020

Why in News

Recently, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a ventilator and plans to produce 5,000 of them per month to treat COVID-19 patients.

Key Points

  • DRDO had developed a ventilator along with the Society for Biomedical Technology (SBMT) and now the technology has been transferred to an industry in Mysuru.
    • The industry is producing the secondary version of a ventilator initially developed by DRDO.
    • Currently, it has a capacity to manufacture 5,000 ventilators per month and this could be scaled up to 10,000 per month.
  • Other contributions by DRDO:
    • DRDO laboratories have manufactured 20,000 litres of sanitiser and supplied to various organisations like Delhi police.
    • It has developed N-99 and 3-layered masks and supplied 10,000 masks to Delhi police personnel.
    • It is tying up with some private companies to make personal protection equipment such as body suits and also ventilators.
    • It is working on providing ready-to-eat meals for the government and health workers through the Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysore which already supplies them to the armed forces.
    • The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has also increased the production of sanitisers, masks and bodysuits.

Defence Research and Development Organisation

  • It works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence.
  • It’s objective is to establish a world class science and technology base for India and provide Indian Defence Services decisive edge by equipping them with internationally competitive systems and solutions.
  • It was established in 1958 after combining Technical Development Establishment (TDEs) of the Indian Army and the Directorate of Technical Development & Production (DTDP) with the Defence Science Organisation (DSO).
  • Mission:
    • Design, develop and lead to production state-of-the-art sensors, weapon systems, platforms and allied equipment for Indian Defence Services.
    • Provide technological solutions to the services to optimise combat effectiveness and to promote well-being of the troops.
    • Develop infrastructure and committed quality manpower and build strong indigenous technology base.

Society for Biomedical Technology

  • It is an inter-ministerial initiative of the Government of India established to promote healthcare by providing indigenous solutions in the field of medical equipment and devices.
  • It was established under the Department of Defence Research and Development (DRDO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

Ordnance Factory Board

  • The OFB which includes 41 Ordnance Factories is headquartered at Kolkata.
  • Indian Ordnance Factories is the oldest and largest industrial setup which functions under the Department of Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence.
  • The ordnance factories form an integrated base for indigenous production of defence hardware and equipment, with the primary objective of self reliance in equipping the armed forces with state of the art battlefield equipment.

Source: TH