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Low-cost Ventilator
Presenter: Arsath Ahammed, Student Inventor, BITS Dubai

Ventilators are essential life saving equipments. However, being expensive they are only found in large hospitals leaving millions of people living in rural areas without access to a single ventilator. Ventilators cost between $1000 to $30,000. Hospitals charge about $100/day to provide ventilator support. Many people are forced to withdraw their loved ones from ventilator simply because they cannot afford it. In the event of infectious pandemics causing respiratory distress like bird flu or SARS(Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), thousands will be in need of mechanical ventilation to sustain life. However, even large cities have limited supply of ventilators. It is infeasible to buy and store expensive ventilators in preparation. Hence we developed a low cost ventilator using readily available materials and incorporating essential safety features and as per American Association of Respiratory Care guidelines. This ventilator costing approximately $100 reduces the amount necessary to support life. It can also withstand frequent power outages and does not require compressed air. It has the potential to create a wider impact especially in rural areas and developing countries and gives hope to those who have little left. Recently concluded survey from World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation call the ventilator one of the most critical pieces of equipment in helping to improve health outcomes in rural areas. This project was awarded the first prize for healthcare innovation at Techfest 2009, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. We are currently looking for people interested in helping us to develop the project further.

Contact: arshad.me@gmail.com

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Comments:

Mon, August 17, 2009:
intersting product concept, some image will be helpful to have a better ingight about the product.