<PAGE>




                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                    CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-14(a)
                             CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

I, Earl R. Refsland, President and Chief Executive Officer of Allied Healthcare
Products, Inc., certify that:

         1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Allied
         Healthcare Products, Inc.;

         2. Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any
         untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
         necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
         under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to
         the period covered by this report;

         3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
         information included in this annual report, fairly present in all
         material respects the financial condition, results of operations and
         cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in
         this report;

         4. The registrant's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
         establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
         defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e)) and internal control over
         financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f)) for
         the registrant and have:

         a) designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
         disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
         supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
         registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
         us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in
         which this report is being prepared;

         b) [not applicable to this reporting period];

         c) evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls
         and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
         effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures as of the end
         of the period covered by this report; and

         d) disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal
         control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's
         most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth quarter in the case
         of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably
         likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over
         financial reporting; and

         5. The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed,
         based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
         reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of
         registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
         functions):


                                       18
<PAGE>


         a) all significant deficiencies in the design or operation of internal
         controls which could adversely affect the registrant's ability to
         record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

         b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
         other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
         internal controls over financial reporting.

                                    Date: November 12, 2003

                                    s/ Earl R. Refsland
                                    -------------------------------------
                                    Earl R. Refsland,
                                    President and Chief Executive Officer



                                       19