In a sensational invention which would control neonatal mortality rates, an Indian engineer identified as Nitish Kumar Jangir developed a low-cost neonatal breathing device that has saved precious lives of newborn babies across the small town in our country.
In fact, his device has even won the 2019 Commonwealth Secretary-General’s Innovation for Sustainable Development Award in London, as per PTI.
He had received his award in the ‘People category’ alongside 14 other innovators from across 53 member-countries of the Commonwealth.
“Our mission is to try and ensure that babies don’t lose their lives due to the lack of access to a piece of technology,” Jangir, who was presented the award at a ceremony in London held last week by Prince Harry the Youth Ambassador of the Commonwealth, told the news agency PTI.
“In countries like India, with erratic electricity supply and limited resources at public hospitals, this neonatal breathing support equipment can be used without any complex training. So, anyone, anywhere can use this device and deliver crucial support to premature babies,” he explained.
“This award will go a long way in upscaling this device across the Commonwealth countries, for use in similar conditions in regions like Africa,” he added.
Hailing from Bengaluru, he co-founded Coeo Labs which is a medical device company with an intention to prevent the preventable deaths in the branch of emergency and critical care. Saans has been put into practice since the last three months across district hospitals of India that lack neonatal ICU facilities and at the medical colleges.
Quite interestingly, it is the world’s first neonatal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device that can be driven through direct source electricity, including a vehicle’s electrical supply, a rechargeable battery, compressed gas or also manual air pumping.
The device is at least 3 times cheaper than any other such machine, as per PTI.
“The response from every part of the Commonwealth has been phenomenal,” Abhik Sen who is the Head of Innovation and Partnerships at the Commonwealth Secretariat told PTI.
“By showcasing the contribution their innovations are making towards building a better world, these awards will help our hitherto unsung heroes win that crucial next round of support, mentoring and investment they need to scale up and fulfil their dreams,” he said.
“Equally, these awards are intended to inspire the incredibly youthful population of Commonwealth countries to dream big and believe that no problem is too big to solve through innovation,” he added.
Each of the winners received a trophy, a certificate and Rs 1,77,076 in prize money. The prestigious award was given on the basis of five categories.
- improving the lives of fellow citizens, 2. boosting prosperity 3. protecting the planet 4. promoting peace and building partnerships for development in the Commonwealth.