With COVID-19 patient numbers on the rise around the world, medical facilities are on the brink of being overwhelmed due to a shortage of ventilation machines and the highly trained staff required to monitor patients connected to them. A groundbreaking innovation, developed by Yehonatan Medical in collaboration with Prof. Ori Efrati, Director of the Pediatric Pulmonary Unit at Sheba Medical Center, now addresses both of these crucial issues.
“This tremendous breakthrough is nothing less than a game-changer when it comes to caring for large numbers of corona patients,” said Prof. Efrati, who explained: “We were able to use the relatively simple and inexpensive BiPAP non-invasive ventilation machine as the basis for the advanced ventilation technology. Conventional ventilators, aside from being very costly, are limited in that they can only be used with one patient at a time … because of a high power output and built-in disinfecting mechanism, the new system can safely treat three to five patients simultaneously.”
Additional features of the new system include a remote interface that enables the medical team to monitor patients from a safe distance; the ability to include a hierarchy and classification of alerts; the ability for automatic parameter corrections according to set criteria; respiratory rehabilitation for the patient by adjusting to changes in the patient responsiveness; and more. The relatively low-cost system can be implemented in makeshift clinical settings, such as field hospitals, as well as in step-down units within the hospital.
The development of the system itself took place in Israel, marking the first time that an invasive ventilation machine was built in the country. The advanced ventilation technology is currently in advanced phase trials at the MSR Medical Simulation Center at Sheba, where it is being tested on artificial lungs, and is expected to be ready for large-scale production in the coming months.
