The Sysvent OM1 , the first intensive care ventilator designed and built in Portugal , has just received European certification (EC) for patient treatment, allowing it to be commercialized very soon in the country and all over the world. António H. Carneiro and Nuno Cortesão , from Hospital da Luz Arrábida, and Marco Fernandes, from Centro Hospitalar de Entre-o-Douro e Vouga and HL Arrábida, were the intensivists that participated in the development of this model , built by SysAdvance company. “This process is an example of how we can do well in Portugal”, highlights António H. Carneiro, who is also the clinical director of HL Arrábida. The development of the project and the process of certification happened in record time : the idea was launched in March 2020 by Miguel Guimarães, president of the Portuguese Association of Doctors , in the scope of the campaign “All for Those who Take Care” (Todos por quem Cuida), in collaboration with intensivists from HL Arrábida and SysAdvance – a Portuguese company certified for building medical oxygen generator devices and medical air and vacuum systems, that took the challenge. The intensivists defined objectives, specified requirements, tested and helped developing the equipment, according to the highest standards. The SysAdvance engineers, Danielson Pina and Filipe Fernandes, interpreted the specifications of the medical team, building the equipment. This was, then, submitted to rigorous bench tests and in vivo tests (performed at CCEA), which proved, in July 2020, that the Sysvent OM1 was ready to be submitted to international certification, in a lengthy and arduous process, coordinated by Isabel Machado, from SysAdvance. The outcome was successful , the ventilator having obtained, last January, EC certification , by the Notified Body, SGS Belgium, as a high-level intensive care ventilator. “The fact that the conception, design, definition of requirements and construction were done in Portugal, attests that the country, as it was well established in many other areas, is capable of producing the best. In this case, what made the difference was the vision and leadership that allowed to set attainable objectives, in the context of what is necessary for physicians to save lives, the ability of engineers to meet all those requirements, and the knowledge and experience of SysAdvance, which made it possible to gather a team focused in the same objectives, talking the same language, with equal enthusiasm and dedication”, states António H. Carneiro. “We look forward to use the Sysvent OM1 in our wards, since that will be ‘the final proof’ of its efficacy, safety and usability, and where we will learn to maximize and enhance it”, he adds. “This ventilator is for us a major source of satisfaction. This fruitful alliance between physicians and engineers showed that we must invest in clinical research, to attain the solutions that hospitals need, faster and with higher quality and innovation”, stated Miguel Guimarães, in an official communication of the Portuguese Association of Doctors. “In such a complex moment of pandemic, the Sysvent OM1 certification gives us great pride”, added José Vale Machado, the SysAdvance CEO.
