Border town school produces ventilator

Under research and development efforts by the Turkish National Education Ministry, a high school near Turkey's southern border succeeded in producing a medical ventilator critical in treating COVID-19, an official said on April 16. 

In Turkey's southern-most Hatay province, Şehit Serkan Talan Vocational and Technical High School will begin mass production of the breathing assistance machines after the device is registered, Mahmut Özer, deputy national education minister, told Anadolu Agency.

Underlining that the ministry supports such research and development activities at high schools to fight the pandemic, Özer noted that on a previous occasion, another high school had successfully manufactured an ultrasonic surgical mask machine.

Meanwhile, other vocational high schools have made protective medical clothes, such as masks and jumpsuits, as well as disinfectants. They produce around 10 million masks monthly.

With severe shortness of breath a hallmark of the novel coronavirus, the global pandemic has increased the need for medical ventilators, resulting in fresh impetus across the globe to research and manufacture the devices.

In Turkey, several technology and defense companies, such as Baykar, Aselsan, Havelsan, TAI, BIOSYS and Arcelik that produced the first indigenous medical ventilator device, have focused on its mass production.