Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- South Korea's machinery technology research institute joined hands with private companies to lay down standards for the performance certification of mobile negative-pressure equipment that played a crucial role in examining and treating patients infected with a novel coronavirus.

Negative-pressure ventilation is the primary mode of assisted ventilation for patients with acute respiratory failure. COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization will be placed in isolation in negative-pressure rooms which stop air from being released into any other part of hospitals. Health officials use mobile negative-pressure equipment in field clinics.

The Korea Institue of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) said Wednesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with cleanroom equipment producers to conduct a standardized study on the performance evaluation of mobile negative-pressure ventilators, mobile sample rooms and mobile negative-pressure sound pressure wards.

They will work out standards on the width of a negative-pressure ventilation system that can maintain constant internal pressure and the performance of filters. "We will make efforts to come up with standards for evaluation and a certification system amid the growing importance of medical facilities for dealing with viruses," said Han Bang-woo, a KIMM researcher.