Cuban Ventilators: A Step Towards Technological Independence

The Cuban company CNEURO is about to launch the first “Made in Cuba” pulmonary ventilators. By the end of this year, about 500 pulmonary ventilators will be made – 250 of each prototype. CNEURO also plans to market and export these ventilators to other countries.

This scientific and technical achievement is in addition to the many applications in the framework of research into medicines, vaccines, diagnostic tools and other areas of science that the well-structured scientific and technological sector in Cuba has made available for the battle against COVID-19.

According to the director of CNEURO, Dr. Mitchell Valdés Sosa, his institution will send the first 500 kits to health centers in Cuba before the end of 2020. To this end, they have received the collaboration of several centers in Cuba, such as the Immunoassay Centre, the Union of Military Industries (UIM), the Combiomed-Digital Medical Technology Company, the Electronics Group (Gelect), as well as the Centre for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices (CECMED), among others.

The National Center of Electromedicine was in charge of providing the calibration and testing of the equipment.

No less important was the role played by self-employed people who did their bit in the research, development and implementation of the equipment.

Part of the funds used in the project were managed by CNEURO itself and came from sources as diverse as the European Union, the non-governmental entity mediCuba-Switzerland, different mobilizing campaigns of the Cuban societies of Hygiene and Epidemiology and of Bioengineering, as well as groups of Cubans living in the United Kingdom.

The director of CNEURO added that at the beginning of the pandemic it was expected that a considerable amount of this equipment would be needed, but this did not happen in Cuba due to the adequate management of the disease.

However, the forecast existed, aggravated by the refusal of the companies Medical AG and Acutronic which were the usual suppliers of this equipment to Cuba and which had been acquired by American companies and immediately ceased all types of commercial relations with the Caribbean island.

The models developed by CNEURO correspond to the type of emergency ventilator used for serious cases and that their design corresponded to a low-cost version in order to, in addition to resolving the emergency, generate economic savings and technological independence for the
country.

The other prototype, developed jointly with the Immunoassay Center, is a non-invasive pulmonary ventilator that – unlike the other prototype – does not require patient intubation.

The Cuban specialists took advantage of the collaboration that exists on the Internet between entities from different countries to define the most suitable prototypes to be developed in Cuba.

Another part of the components were designed entirely in Cuba.

The development and manufacture of these machines has saved the country no less than 10 million dollars, without counting the importance of the technological independence that their production in Cuba brings.

Despite the fact that there is no urgent need for ventilators in the country, Cuba adds one more component to the vast range of medicines, procedures, diagnostics and research used in the battle against COVID-19.