The ventilator was developed in March in a few days by a team of Professor Karel Roubík from the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in cooperation with the Covid19cz initiative. In the public collection for the first hundred fans, people deposited the required 10 million crowns on the Donio.cz website in less than 24 hours.
–
Serial production began in Třebíč’s Mico Medical from the Mico Group at the end of April. But it has a catch. Although Mico Medical has 182 of these ventilators in stock, hospitals cannot use them yet. CoroVent is not certified for long-distance running.
–
Use is now only possible on the basis of an exception from the Medical Devices Act, which every hospital wishing to use CoroVent must apply to the Ministry of Health.
–
The Minister promised that they would be used
That was swaying into action for months now. “An exemption will be granted to all medical facilities with a lack of standard fans,” Kryštof Berka from the press department of the office told Práva on Thursday.
–
According to its owner Jiří Denner, Mico Medical is now negotiating with the ministry to grant a block exemption for CoroVent. “We want to simplify the process so that each hospital does not have to apply separately. I hope it will be in two weeks or even earlier, “Denner told Práva.
–
According to Berka, the ministry already received one application for a permit on Wednesday. “We are now reviewing the documentation and a decision can be expected within 14 days,” the spokesman added.
–
Last week, the Minister of Health Roman Prymula took over 50 CoroVent fans from PPF and later promised on Twitter that all of them, including the 182 that remain in the Mico Medical warehouse, will be used.
–
CoroVent ventilator for people with coronavirus. It was developed by experts cooperating on the COVID19CZ platform. The project was supported by a public collection.
Photo: Libor Plíhal, ČTK
The mentioned 50 fans will be divided into six hospitals. “The PPF Foundation has already provided money to hospitals that have ordered CoroVent lung ventilators from Mico Medical. Regarding the exception, the Ministry of Health has repeatedly publicly stated that it will be issued when these emergency devices need to be used in hospitals, “said PPF Group spokeswoman Jitka Tkadlecová to Práva. CTU recently published a call for hospitals to apply with an interest in CoroVent. It can also be found on the Mico Medical website.
–
The operator will still need to be trained before the fans can be installed, but this will not take long. “We had a number of doctors on the team who had comments on the ventilator so that it could be trained quickly and the operation was as simple as possible,” Denner said.
—
