Oxygen Support Therapy Solution

The third-world has a dearth of resources.

What we have produced is a simple solution for providing respiratory support to patients requiring this in both a pandemic and non-pandemic situations, taking account of the lack of resources, the lack of skills and the challenges faced in the third-world with lack of infrastructure.

Approximately 15% of the COVID-19 patient population in South Africa required respiratory support (Physiopedia: Respiratory Management of COVID-19). The total patient count in South Africa as at 15th March 2021 was 1,5m, which implies that 225 000 required respiratory intervention/support.

Extrapolating these numbers to the third-world population, (4 billion people or 77% of the world's population) it can be seen that a very large number of people could be helped to recover using this device.

Many patients require respiratory support and invasive mechanical ventilation is a last resort.

This device is non-invasive, but provides air/oxygen support through an anesthesia mask at controlled inhalation, exhalation and over-pressures.

The device was conceived, designed, manufactured and assembled in less than two months as part of the South African National Ventilator Project.

The system provides filtered air/oxygen to the patient and the exhaled air is also filtered.

Because the system is effectively sealed, oxygen wastage is minimal.

Likewise, because the inhaled ambient air and exhaled air are both filtered, this prevents re-infection and infection of attending health staff or others. 

Due to the design of the system, it has no moving parts making it simple to use in even the most basic of facilities, with only a supply of bottled oxygen necessary to drive the system.

The system as been well-trialed during the pandemic in South Africa and has achieved favourable acceptance.

More than 20 000 devices have been produced for use in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This device and the associated breathing circuit is specifically designed and developed to aid health workers in rural or developed areas to rapidly and effectively provide oxygen support for patients requiring respiratory assistance. 

Due to the simplicity of design, it can be used and maintained by "first-mile" health workers.

The CPAP mixer design is such that it can be re-used with simple sanitization. 

Our primary focus in in helping low-income, under-served communities to obtain favourable outcomes when under treatment for COVID and other highly infectious diseases such as MDR tuberculosis etc.

South Africa has a high incidence of MDR TB, exacerbated by a heavy load of HIV+ people. Although COVID-19 appears to have affected our population at a slightly lower level than in the developed world, it seems likely that statistics are unreliable and many COVID-related deaths may have gone un-reported.

The device we are proposing does not necessarily aid in diagnosis, however if used it can rapidly bring relief to the symptoms associated with COVID and other respiratory ailments.

In seeing rapid improvement in the patient's condition, or otherwise, the last mile healthcare workers can make decisions as to whether further, more advanced, treatment is required.

The device is designed in such a way that it is simple to operate and because it is non-invasive, it is does not harm to the patient.

We have had successful roll-out in South Africa during the COVID pandemic and we are about to export a number of devices to India to assist in the COVID outbreak there.

We are looking to expand the footprint into other third-world countries as well where we already have a presence through our other medical device businesses. 

Our solution takes takes well-established hydraulic principles and has applied them in a meaningful way to address the needs of critically ill patients requiring respiratory support.

The solution allows proportional and volume control of the ventilation provided to the patient.

The circuit provided with the device is equipped with filters so as to prevent re-infection and infection of health workers and other patients. 

Currently serving between 9 000 and 15 000 in the third wave of COVID 19

The device is re-usable and we have manufactured some 40 000 circuits which will be consumed in this year.

We anticipate the lifespan of the device to be 2 years, with a maximum use of approximately 10 days per patient.

We can manufacture at a rate of 800 per day, so if necessary we could conceivably manufacture 800 000 devices in 5 years

We are measuring the uptake of the devices currently manufactured and actively looking at feedback in the market.

it should be understood that this is "new" technology in the minds of medical professionals who are used simple oxygen masks or to mechanical ventilation.

This device is a bridge between these two interventions.

We have approximately 30 people working when we manufacture the devices and assemble the circuits.

These are full-time employees who are rotated into manufacturing and assembling different medical devices at different times.

We employ more than 350 people full-time in our Company across 4 sites.

We have established design, manufacturing, assembly, marketing, sales and distribution relationships incorporating our own staff, parastatals, competitor organisations, NGOs, distributors and marketing agents. We also make use of consultants to assist in technical documentation and submission requirements. 

We subscribe fully to local broad-based black economic development and are a level 2 organisation , the highest being level 1.

We have an active development programme incorporating interns and learnerships.

We provide scholarships and bursaries.

We have a well-established succession programme which has consistently delivered high-caliber personnel to take up advancement positions. 

We actively promote previously disadvantaged individuals and are proud of our track record in this regard.