How 3D Printing is Helping Fight COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense pressure on the healthcare systems around the world. Hospitals faced unprecedented requirements for personal protective equipment, ventilators, masks, and other critical medical supplies. When traditional supply chains face difficulty meeting the rising demand for medical supplies, 3D printing helped reduce the pressure.

What is 3D printing?

Three dimensional (3D) printing is also known as additive manufacturing. It enables creating 3D objects from digital files layered upon each other. 3D printing helps create prototypes of the final product using plastic and metal. In the times of the current crisis, 3D printing has proved immensely useful. It has helped produce medical equipment that is critical to treat infected patients and protecting healthcare professionals.

Companies, institutes, and enthusiasts have come forward to contribute

The most notable contribution 3D printing has made is in producing masks, face shields, and ventilators. For instance, Airbus, Adidas, Apple and Nike have manufactured face shields. Helpful Engineering and HP in the US are creating emergency ventilators and nasopharyngeal test swabs, respectively. Isinnova in Italy helped produce valves for reanimation devices. Boson Machines and Divide by Zero Technologies in India are manufacturing face masks, face mask pressure relievers, and face shields. Ethereal Machines, again in India, has used 3D printing to create ventilator splitters.

Schools, universities, and enthusiasts are also contributing. They are producing masks, shields, respiratory valves, electrical syringe pumps, intubation equipment, and ventilators. Many governments, globally, are also encouraging citizen-led innovation in 3D printing to help tackle the shortage created by the COVID19 pandemic. These include the European Commission, the Portuguese government, and the US Department of Health and Human Services.

3D printing has emerged a winner in the fight against COVID-19

At a time when vaccines and drugs to fight COVID19 are still a long way to materialize, 3D printing has emerged as a winner. It has enabled faster production of essential components of life-saving medical equipment that has made it possible to protect healthcare workers fighting COVID-19 at the forefront.

3D printing has also helped mobilize communities and empowered common citizens to contribute to the fight against COVID19. All of these efforts have relieved the stress on supply chains and enabled healthcare professionals to focus on saving precious lives.

The article has been written by Neetu Katyal, Content and Marketing Consultant

She can be reached on LinkedIn.