Molly Kilete, Abuja
The Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), a parastatal under the ministry of defence, has produced a ventilator known as DICOVENT and personal protective equipment to address the shortage of these facilities in the country.
John Enenche, coordinator defence media operations, at a press conference in Abuja said other medical materials produced by DICON, include hand sanitisers, face shields and nose masks.
Enenche said the newly designed low-cost machine is a simple mechanical ventilator which is capable of delivering positive pressured ventilation using volume-controlled ventilation (VCV) system.
He said the ventilator has undergone thorough scrutiny and assessment by specialists from top ranging hospitals and experts in the country.
“Additional to its primary responsibility to produce defence equipment, DICON has succeeded in diversifying its human, equipment, machinery as well as research and development capacity, to support a much-needed strategic intervention to cushion the effects of the highly dreaded COVID 19 in the country,” he said.
“First is the production of over 1,500 dozens of DICSanz, a high-quality hand sanitizer produced under very strict environmental conditions, requested by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen TY Buratai for supply to troops of the Army. This product is at the last stage of NAFDAC registration in line with extant due diligence provisions. Furthermore, DICON has responded to the directive by the Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Magashi (rtd) for the Armed Forces to support the indigenous capacity of Nigeria, to support Medical workers by producing thousands of high quality non-permeable personal protective equipment kit.”“Each unit of these kits consists of standardised gowns, face shield and nose masks. They are currently being produced in large quantities for use by Kaduna State government and other national stakeholders. In addition to these, DICON engineers, consultants and medical teams have successfully produced a digital mechanical ventilator known as DICOVENT.”