As industrialist Anand Mahindra had offered to help in such difficult times of Coronavirus pandemic, engineers of Mahindra Group are at it and are working on manufacturing prototypes of ventilators as India faces a shortage of the lifesaving medical device. It is expected to cost less than Rs 7,500.

Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra took to Twitter and applauded the engineers on Friday, from his company who have been involved in making the prototypes.

“So, so proud of our Kandivali & Igatpuri teams who confined themselves to the factories & without sleep produced this in 48 hrs. With humility, we will seek guidance from specialists on the usefulness of the device. Whatever the outcome, they have shown India fights back…,” he tweeted.

So, so proud of our Kandivali & Igatpuri teams who confined themselves to the factories & without sleep produced this in 48hrs. With humility, we will seek guidance from specialists on the usefulness of the device. Whatever the outcome, they have shown India fights back… pic.twitter.com/LrVXm4Acku

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) March 26, 2020

Referring to a tweet by Pawan Goenka, MD of Mahindra & Mahindra, he also said that the company is simultaneously working with an indigenous maker of ICU ventilators.

“As @GoenkaPk tweeted, we are simultaneously working with an indigenous maker of ICU ventilators. These are sophisticated machines costing between 5 to 10 lakhs. This device is an interim lifesaver & the team estimates it will cost below Rs 7,500,” said another tweet by Mahindra.

As @GoenkaPk tweeted, we are simultaneously working with an indigenous maker of ICU ventilators. These are sophisticated machines costing between 5 to 10 lakhs. This device is an interim lifesaver & the team estimates it will cost below ₹7,500 https://t.co/3rz1FBkPF0

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) March 26, 2020

Goenka also acknowledged support from individuals and other companies towards Mahindra Group’s efforts to make ventilators and said that a prototype is likely ready in 3 days.

“I said that on one hand, the company along with two large public sector entities is working with an existing manufacturer of ‘high spec ventilators’ to help them to simplify design and scale-up capacity. On the other hand, we are working on an automated version of the Bag Valve Mask ventilator (commonly known as Ambu bag). We hope to have a Proto ready in 3 days for approval. Once proven this design will be made available to all for manufacturing,” he said.

Earlier, on March 22, Mahindra had offered to convert the Mahindra resorts into temporary care facilities for Coronavirus patients. He took to Twitter to announce a series of measures, including the production of ventilators at Mahindra’s manufacturing units, to help fight the fast spreading Coronavirus pandemic in India.

Mahindra had tweeted , “At Mahindra Holidays, we stand ready to offer our resorts as temporary care facilities. Our Projects team stands ready to assist the Govt/Army in erecting temporary care facilities.”

On manufacturing low cost ventilators, Mahindra said, “A lockdown over the next few weeks will help flatten the curve & moderate the peak pressure on medical care. However, we need to create scores of temporary hospitals & we have a scarcity of ventilators. To help in the response to this unprecedented threat, we at the Mahindra Group will immediately begin work on how our manufacturing facilities can make ventilators.”

As the country is facing exponential rise in the number of cases of COVID-19 with each passing day, on Friday, India reported a rise of 724 cases with 17 deaths after a second patient died in Rajasthan. These ventilators could be of much help to the country with so much of population, which faces a shortage of medical infrastructure in normal times as well.