Galway Bay fm newsroom - Staff at GMIT are working to produce vital equipment and Personal Protective Equipment for hospitals and healthcare staff across the west to help the fight against Covid-19.
Special-purpose ventilators, face visors and shields are some of the products being developed at the Dublin Road facility.
Since the closure of GMIT's campus on the 12th of March, business, engineering, science and computing staff have been working to produce and deliver projects such as the construction of face visors for staff at University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park as well as at pharmacies, GP surgeries and voluntary care settings.
The first delivery of the face visors has already been made to UHG and the project lead Dr. Brian de Souza says the team has the capacity to produce over 20-thousand shields per week, if necessary.
Another team at GMIT has been working with NUI Galway to develop a split ventilator which can be used by two Covid-19 patients at one time.
A prototype for a low-cost 'last resort ventilator' is also being built which can take over the breathing of patients who no longer have an autonomous lung function.
GMIT's entire inventory of 3D printers is also being used by ventilator and other Medtech device manufacturers.
For more on this story, tune in to Galway Bay fm on the hour..
