Central Valley organization holds drive to make ventilators for India amid COVID crisis

An organization is asking residents of the Central Valley for help donating ventilators to people in India suffering from a rampant second wave of COVID-19.

India Covid SOS is an international non-profit volunteer group collecting new and used CPAP and BiPAP machines to be converted into ventilators. The devices commonly are used to treat sleep apnea by delivering a stream of air through a mask and tube.

Director of the Central Valley team Abheet Singh Sachdeva says converting the machines is a cost-effective and fairly simple solution that has a significant impact on saving lives with a few new over-the-counter parts.

“Using about $50 of equipment, we can turn these machines into non-invasive ventilators,” Sachdeva said.”There are around 10 million of these machines in the United States that are not in use, and we’re trying to capitalize on these unused machines to help save people in India.”

To donate your CPAP and BiPAP machines, visit the India Covid SOS website for instructions. The drive will run throughout August.