Turkish-made ventilator rivals foreign models: Expert

Domestic medical ventilators made by four Turkish companies are getting rave reviews from doctors and are a better buy than imported models, according to a top advisor on the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. Sema Kultufan Turan, a member of the board advising Turkey’s Health Ministry on the outbreak, touted the quality of the historic model.

The ventilators are crucially important to help coronavirus patients with serious respiratory problems, she said.

“We have sufficient medical ventilators in hospitals which give high-quality service. In that, we are different from other countries,” said Turan

But, she added, “We have seen that our domestically produced medical ventilator can compete with those imported ones, and can even do so better.”

Turan said the device developed by Turkish firms Arcelik, Aselsan, Baykar, and Biosys is offered at a much better price than imported models.

“I believe it’s quite important to produce such a product,” she said, adding: “Our ventilator can become much better than others with some additional software.”

“Patient-ventilator compatibility is really perfect. It’s a ventilator that can offer many different treatments and oxygen treatment options. It was a historic moment for us when we first used the ventilator on a patient. We also saw how successful the ventilator was,” she stressed.

Turkish tech firm Biosys developed the device, and after the pandemic hit, Turkish firms launched a mobilization to start mass production with the coordination of the Technology and Industry Ministry.

Working hard, Turkish engineers managed to set up mass production of the first indigenous intensive care ventilator in just 14 days.

The coronavirus death toll in Turkey reached 2,491 as of Thursday, with 101,790 cases to date.

After originating in China last December, COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, has spread to at least 185 countries and regions across the world.

The pandemic has killed some 191,200 people, with total infections exceeding 2.72 million, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

*Writing by Davut Demircan