Students at the Indian Institute of Guwahati have designed and developed a low-cost intubation boxes to protect doctors while treating coronavirus patients. The device functions as an aerosol obstruction box which is placed atop the patient bed on the head-side, limiting the flow of virus-laden droplets from the patient to the doctor, especially during the process of intubation.
Intubation is the process of inserting a tube, called an endotracheal tube (ET), through the mouth and then into the airway. It is done so that a patient can be placed on a ventilator to assist with breathing during anaesthesia, sedation or severe illness.
According to the team, the primary prototype of the design has been completed at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the box is currently being reviewed at major COVID-19 care centres including at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). With a price tag of Rs 2,000, the intubation box is seen as a a low-cost alternative and is easier to manufacture and deliver amid the lockdown.
"It is a matter of great pride that after the major initiatives taken by faculty members and alumni of IIT Guwahati to develop various products for the containment of COVID-19 and major research initiatives, IITG students are also coming up with novel products and immediate solutions for protecting doctors, nurses and healthcare workers in this national effort against COVD-19. At IIT Guwahati we have initiated the COVID-19 Grand Challenge for encouraging the students to come forward with ideas and solutions to fight this pandemic and we are expecting several products in the near future," Dr. TG Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati, said.
Speaking about the development, Umang Mathur, a BTech student of the Department of Bioscience & Bioengineering, IIT Guwahati, said, "We feel that it is our responsibility to contribute to this fight against a global pandemic and there could not be a better time and opportunity for IIT graduates to start building upon their world class education background and exposure, to provide solutions centred around simplicity and make India self-reliant, instead of being dependent on imported technologies especially at this time of crisis".
The team has started a crowdfunding campaign in order to manufacture these boxes and provide them to government hospitals for free. The campaign raised a record INR 50,000 within six hours of launching.
