The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory says it is close to its target of delivering the 20,000 ventilators it was mandated to deliver under the National Ventilator Project.

Launched by the Department of Trade and Industry in April, the Project promised to deliver locally-built ventilators to hospitals across South Africa, to be used on covid-19 patients, who require mechanical ventilation.

Spokesperson at the Observatory, Khulu Phasiwe, says these non-invasive ventilators have been shown to be more effective in treating covid-19 patients with severe breathing-problems.

Phasiwe says the ventilators can also be used on other non-covid-19 patients.

SARAO has been mandated to manage the National Ventilator Project based on the experience it gained in the development of complex systems for the MeerKAT radio telescope, a precursor to the world’s largest Square Kilometre Array radio telescope.

— Khulu Phasiwe (@KhuluPhasiwe) October 3, 2020