Health Canada has certified the CAE Air1 ventilator to be used in hospitals in Canada to fight against COVID-19. The certification of this made-in-Canada ventilator, which was designed and manufactured in Montreal, comes two months after the Government of Canada signed a contract with CAE to manufacture and supply 10,000 ventilators.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, CAE was the first to receive certification from Health Canada for an entirely new ventilator. It was created and manufactured in Canada, and we are proud that it will help save lives in the fight against COVID-19,” said Marc Parent, CAE’s President, and CEO. “The agility shown by CAE in designing and succeeding to have the CAE Air1 ventilator certified in a fraction of the usual time is a testament to the strength of CAE’s innovation, engineering talent, and advanced manufacturing capabilities. I am proud of our team for rising to this humanitarian challenge and strengthening Canada’s self-sufficiency in the medical field during these unprecedented times.”
The CAE Air1 ventilator has over 500 parts and delivers pressure control, volume control, and pressure support ventilation using room air or pressured oxygen. According to the release, it uses an intuitive, simple touchscreen interface and is bundled with on-demand ventilator training, adaptive e-learning modules related to COVID-19 patient management, and 24/7 customer support. It will be used to support Intensive Care Units patients treated for COVID-19.
“CAE, one of Canada’s leading aerospace firms, stepped up early on with their commitment to produce a made-in-Canada ventilator design that will help save the lives of COVID-19 patients battling the disease,” said Navdeep Bains, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry. “Today’s announcement is a testament to CAE’s agility and innovative capability. I am glad that we were able to support CAE in accelerating the design and manufacturing of CAE Air1 ventilator that is now ready to be used by our frontline healthcare workers.”
CAE will commence shipping hundreds of ventilators to the Government of Canada every week.