Pocket ventilator is a great achievement in the field of medical science as it can save millions of people’s life who are not able to breathe normally or whose lungs function insufficiently. The cost of conventional ventilator is very high and it is not possible for everyone to afford it – mainly for poor people. This ventilator is invented by 25-year-old Diwakar Vaish who is a robotic engineer. A neurosurgeon at the AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) also participated in this pocket ventilator development.
According to him, this ventilator can be kept in pocket and so it can be moved from one place to another easily. It is very small device but can work better than conventional ventilator. It doesn’t need to connect any oxygen cylinder to support the seirous-ill patient. It is capable to manage oxygen from atmosphere which is not possible for conventional devices. In this way, it helps in eliminating oxygen cylinder cost which can be INR 3000 to INR 4000 everyday.
The cost of conventional ventilator is around INR 5, 00,000 to 15, 00,000, while pocket ventilator would cost INR 15000 to 20000 after some clinical trials when it will be available in market. Currently this device is being used by many serious patients at AIIMS who are unable to breathe normally or on their own. However it needs more trial and approval from drug controller general of India. Now you can imagine the difference. It is a new hope for the people who don’t have huge amounts to pay the cost of conventional ventilator.
Image credit Pocket Ventilator
In exceptional cases pocket ventilator may need oxygen cylinder. Otherwise it can collect oxygen from atmosphere for the patients. There is no requirement of medical professional to control or run this pocket ventilator. If you have android phone, you can control or run it yourself. However, a medical professional is required to run traditional ventilator. In order to run the normal breathing process, air supply is managed by an artificial intelligence algorithm installed in the pocket ventilator.
Dr Agarwal said,
“It works by pushing the atmospheric air into the lungs of the patients who cannot breathe on their own. The disposable ventilators currently in use also push in air, but they do it at a fixed frequency that does not necessarily match the patient’s breathing pattern, which may cause low oxygen saturation. This device synchronises ventilator air support with the normal breathing pattern.”
“We have successfully used it for a couple of hours on six fully paralysed patients at AIIMS who have been unable to return home for the want of affordable ventilators.”
The number of ventilator beds need to be increased in India for those people whose lungs are not working perfectly. In this scenario, the invention of pocket ventilator is a new ray of hope for everyone as it is less expensive and can be accessible to every people.
In case of any technical disturbance, this device will run on secondary mode and a message will be delivered to your android phone which will assist you how to correct the device.
Dr. Agarwal added,
“The oxygen supplied to the patients through conventional ventilators is usually diluted to 40% concentration, air contains 20% oxygen. Nine in 10 of all patients, barring the ones with severe lung problems, can breathe in the normal atmospheric air because the problem is in their diaphragm, not lungs.”
Article Sourced: http://www.hindustantimes.com/science/delhi-robotic-engineer-develops-world-s-cheapest-pocket-ventilator/story-1g1Gpawlq8XVvODpAsN0AO.html