Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Czech Volunteers Develop Functioning Lung Ventilator Ñn Days

Associated Press

   PRAGUE - Tomas Kapler knew nothing about ventilators -- he's an online
   business consultant, not an engineer or a medical technician. But when
   he saw that shortages of the vital machines had imperiled critically
   ill COVID-19 patients in northern Italy, he was moved to action.

   "It was a disturbing feeling for me that because of a lack of equipment
   the doctors had to decide whether a person gets a chance to live,"
   Kapler said. "That seemed so horrific to me that it was an impulse to
   do something."

   And so he did. "I just said to myself: 'Can we simply make the
   ventilators?'" he said.

   Working around the clock, he brought together a team of 30 Czechs to
   develop a fully functional ventilator -- Corovent. And they did it in a
   matter of days.

   Kapler is a member of an informal group of volunteers formed by IT
   companies and experts who offered to help the state fight the pandemic.
   The virus struck here slightly later than in western Europe but the
   number of infected was rising and time was running out.

   "It seemed that on the turn of March and April, we might be in the same
   situation as Italy," Kapler said.

   Ventilators had become a precious commodity. Their price was
   skyrocketing and so was demand that the traditional makers were unable
   to immediately meet.

.