Life as a premature baby is precarious -- especially if you're
in rural India.
There are some 750,000 neonatal deaths each year in India,
and one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world.
Access to
incubators is minimal outside cities; neonatal technology is expensive,
particularly for local medical facilities.
But this could
soon become a thing of the past.
A joint venture
between Wipro and General Electric has developed a stronger, safer, more
efficient incubator for the Indian market, and their concept is quite literally
bullet-proof. The high-tech machine is fitted with bullet-proof material and is
able to handle unpredictable electrical surges.
Called the Lullaby Warmer Prime, the incubator is
designed to work in areas with poor infrastructure. In addition to the modified
power unit to handle electrical surges, a temperature gauge fitted with Kevlar
and the light bulbs have been upgraded with long-lasting LEDs -- and they're
more durable too.
What's more,
each unit, manufactured in Bangalore, comes in at 30% cheaper than it would in
the U.S.
Fighting
an unwanted statistic
Warmth is key to the survival of
premature babies and many rural mothers are forced to make do with what they
have to keep their child alive. Doctor Sahana Devadas, a paediatrician at Bangalore's
biggest children's hospital, says mothers often improvise, covering their baby
and placing it "under a [light] bulb" to maintain body temperature.
Now however, the
hope is that the cheaper, more robust incubators developed by Wirepro and GE
will reach even the most remote hospitals and curb the high infant mortality
rate.
A uniquely
Indian approach
Based in Bangalore, India's Silicon
Valley, the project team describe their approach as "reverse
innovation."
Taking existing
technologies, they refined, economized and developed a version of incubators
prevalent in Europe and the U.S., all at a fraction of the cost.
Not that
performance is compromised. Dr Devadas claims infant mortality has halved in
his hospital since the introduction of the new units.
The long-term
goal is for the incubators to be shipped around the world, lowering the cost of
neonatal care globally whilst increasing the ubiquity of -- and thus access to
-- these lifesaving devices.
Good news for
any soon-to-be parent.
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