A team of Pakistani students has won first prize at the MIT Sloan Healthcare Innovations Prize 2019 for reinventing an effective and low-cost ventilator.
The winning team device entitled as Umbulizer ventilator would cost around $2,000 (Rs280,000) compared to a regular ventilator that usually costs about $15,000 (Rs2 million). The team plans to take their initiative to Pakistan which is in dire need of such cheap but effective equipment.
The low cost of the ventilator’s is explained by the fact that it has four key functions, which are needed in life-saving situations, whereas the traditional ventilators have 15 functions, however, these are rarely put to use.
The ventilator proposed by the team was also different in looks compared to a conventional ventilator and seems like a desktop printer as contrasting to the conventional ventilator.
Furthermore, the proposed $2000 dollar is capable of running on batteries which ads mobility and goes well with its size. After an operator connects the device’s single tube to a patient, at regular intervals the device pumps a safe amount of air into their lungs.
In Pakistan there are a total of 2000 ventilators which is tremendously minute considering the immense population of the country. Keeping in view, these talented champs reinventing the ventilators to serve the humanity.