Mandi: An assistant professor at IIT Mandi, Dr Gajendra Singh, has developed a portable newborn incubator to save lives in Himachal Pradesh as it can be conveniently carried to any far-flung location. A personal tragedy some years ago prompted him to make this machine for the people and health institutions.
As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention” and for Dr Singh, the inspiration to make the incubator was an incident when he could not get a neonatal ambulance for his newborn daughter.
"A few years ago my daughter got an infection at birth. She was referred to Chandigarh for treatment, but she could not be taken there in a normal ambulance as an ambulance with a neonatal incubator facility was needed, which was not available in the nearby hospitals, so it took 12 to 14 hours for the ambulance to arrive from Chandigarh," he recalls. "My daughter's health was getting worse, but when the neonatal ambulance arrived and she was taken in it, she could be saved."
It was then and there he decided to take this facility to every village in Himachal, Dr Singh said adding that he did extensive research on this and then started the work of making a model of a neonatal incubator with his colleagues. "After facing the trauma I felt the pain of the people of the hills. After this, I decided to make a portable neonatal incubator myself. I started working on this model, which I took to a private company for bulk manufacturing," he said.
Dr Singh said that the price of the neonatal incubator in the market is more than 35 lakhs, but the neonatal incubator made by him will be available for 3 to 8 lakh rupees. He said that this is such a neonatal incubator for which an ambulance will not be required. "It is so light in weight that it can be easily transported with the help of a drone or in a part of a car. It also has complete facilities of an oxygen cylinder, two two-hour battery backups, phototherapy for the prevention of jaundice and a warmer," he claimed.
Dr Singh is originally from Madhya Pradesh and works at IIT Mandi. Along with him, Associate Professor Dr Satvasheel Powar, and students Keshav Verma, Vatsal, Dheeraj and Badal have contributed significantly to making this neonatal incubator. "This initiative of Gajendra Singh can prove to be a gift of life for many future parents and newborn children. This portable incubator can prove to be very helpful in areas where the facilities of incubator or neonatal ambulance are far away," his colleagues said.
Know More About Incubator And Neonatal Ambulance
Many children are born before nine months or with some problems. Prematurely born or sick newborns are not fully developed, in such a situation their care is very important. Just like ICU in hospitals, there is NICU i.e. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for newborns, which is an intensive care unit for newborns. The sick and prematurely born newborns are kept in a machine called an incubator. It provides the right environment for the care and development of children, as well as protects them from diseases and infections.
On the other hand. a neonatal ambulance is a vehicle to take newborn babies to the hospital, especially those who are either born prematurely or are seriously ill. It has a vital incubator arrangement for the babies. There are ventilators, oxygen and other equipment which are necessary to save lives. This ambulance also has a neonatologist i.e. a doctor for newborn babies and a nurse. In the critical condition of a newborn, a neonatal ambulance can prove to be a lifesaver.
