The arrival of COVID-19 in South Africa was expected, but the financial ramifications were underestimated by many companies, including my own, Artic Driers.
Prior to the start of the COVID-19, and NGO called “Save-P” made contact with us and asked Artic to provide them with a locally designed Compressed Air Dryer and filter bank to provide breathing air for hospitals and clinics. This unit provides clean compressed air and oxygen mix to patients via a CPAP (Continuous positive airway pressure) mixing regulator unit.
In simple terms, the regulator mixes oxygen and dried compressed air and provides this mixture to a patient in a regulated and consistent manner dependent on the patient’s needs.
The compressed air dryer and filter casings were designed to handle up to 280 patients at a time, and within three weeks the designs were ready for a wide range of companies to build different centres around South Africa. The design was given Pro Bono to Save P as part of Artic’s community initiative. The concept was for these units to be built at a cost that is funded by the Government.
The dryer was only a small part of the Save P project. They have produced hundreds of CPAP units and they are in use now at many hospitals and clinics countrywide. Unfortunately, due to higher set-up costs, the air dryer systems have not proven popular, at least not at the Government or Provincial levels.
However, through a number of specialized sub-contractors, Artic Driers has built at least 13 low dew point air drying units for clients and for stock, all for COVID-19 use. These vary from units with a capacity of as high as 23 m³/min to as low as 3 m³/min. One of the major recipients is Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, which received the largest number of units for the COVID-19 emergency ward extensions currently nearing completion.
Artic’s in-house production teams have recovered from months of continuous work on various new dryers for a number of our specialized hospital supplier partners.
While there have been challenges, the completion dates were met, and the experience has been both interesting and rewarding. That said, I hope South Africa does not have to go through a second wave as is the case in Europe.
~ By Allen Cockfield, CEO of Artic Driers
