Engineers and students of Academic City University College have manufactured an updated version of a locally made ventilator for respiratory and other health-related issues in Ghana.

Known as the Stellar Ventilator model, the ventilator was manufactured as a solution to the inadequate supply of ventilators in the country during the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, the updated ventilator was exhibited at the Local Ventilators for Africa Medical Technology Fair in Accra on Monday, December 5th, 2022.

President of the College, Professor Fred McBagonluri, disclosed that the new ventilators will be released onto the market within six months at an affordable price.

“Ventilators became an essential commodity that saved many lives. Unfortunately, Ghana did not have enough of these lifesavers because, while some were available, they were prohibitively expensive,” he said.

“The plan was for Ghana and Africa to develop their version of low-cost ventilators tailored to its terrain, using off-the-shelf and locally available material under a project dubbed Locovent4Africa,” he added.

The fair was attended by medical device manufacturers, researchers, academia, students, health practitioners, policymakers, health service providers, regulators, and vendors.

Some of the inventions which were showcased at the fair included Made in Ghana heartbeat monitors, an electric wheelchair, a transport incubator, and Optimo-version hand sanitiser among others.

The fair which was on the theme “Building Local Capacity in Medical Technology,” was supported by iSTEAM Academy Limited and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.