NASA picks 3 Indian firms to make Covid-19 ventilators

New Delhi: NASA has selected three Indian companies to make a low-cost ventilator tailored for Covid-19 patients.

The three Indian companies are Alpha Design Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bharat Forge Ltd and Medha Servo Drives Pvt Ltd, the US space agency said in a statement on Friday.

The prototype, which was created by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers in just 37 days, received an emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration on April 30.

Called VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally), the high-pressure ventilator was designed to use one-seventh the parts of a traditional ventilator.