Coronavirus War: How Start-Ups Are Stepping In

As the total number of Coronavirus positive cases surges to around 3000, doctors and healthcare professionals will need more ventilators and other equipment in their battle against COVID-19. The industry is doing its bit in multiple ways to help healthcare professionals.

Corporate giants like Mahindra have already announced that they would be manufacturing ventilators at their facilities. Many small companies and start-ups are also pitching in with their contribution to help the government fight the COVID-19 battle.

AgVa Healthcare is a NOIDA-based start-up which makes low-cost portable ventilators. The firm has now ramped up its production to meet growing demands as the Coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep through the country.

AgVa Healthcare is set to manufacture 20,000 units in the next one month. This period marks a critical phase in the trajectory of the COVID-19 transmission in India.

AgVa Healthcare, established in 2017, seeks to replace the heavy, unwieldy ventilators in hospitals with its portable one which has the look of an electronic tablet.

The company developed its low-cost portable ventilator with the help of a team from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. A convenient feature is that patients can take home the AgVa Healthcare ventilator.

A start-up company based out of Pune had also announced that it is developing low-cost ventilators in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The start-up, NOCCA robotics is developing a ventilator which would cost less than Rs.50,000 according to one of its founders. Moreover, it is a ventilator specifically designed for patients of COVID-19.

DronaMaps, a start-up from Gurugram, has developed a patient movement tracking system to identify and quarantine patients based on Real-time data set using GPS + CDR, the company says in its pinned tweet.

DronaMaps, set up in 2016, is powered by artificial intelligence and analyses 3-D maps to develop neighbourhoods, villages and cities in various segments including micro-agriculture, flood management and pipeline planning.

MicroGo is an R & D based manufacturing firm with a focus on 'Safe and Save Water', food and hygiene. Set up in 2016, sanitisation machines made by the company have come in handy during the war against coronavirus. The company's smart hand hygiene station called 'Go assure' was installed at the Chennai airport.

The firms mentioned here are only a handful among the many who are contributing to the war against the Coronavirus pandemic.