Nigerian doctor Invented the World’s First Portable and Cheaper Ventilator D-Box to Help Millions who require Intensive Care to Breath
A ventilator is a machine that helps a patient to breathe. Patients are usually placed on a ventilator because of a medical problem that makes it hard for them to breathe well on their own. While on the ventilator, the body is able to rest so that it can heal. The ventilator can help with breathing or totally breathe for the patient.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), heart disease, stroke, lower respiratory infections, and chronic obstructive lung disease have remained the top major killers during the past decade.
A medical ventilator or simply ventilator is a machine designed to mechanically move breathable air into and out of the lungs, to provide the mechanism of breathing for a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently.
Conventional ventilators averagely cost $30,000 (about N9 million); low-cost alternatives still in development are to be sold for $3,000 (about N900, 000) while the D-Box’s introductory price is $300 (about N90, 000).
A young Nigerian doctor, Dayo Olakulehin, has invented a cheap, portable, easily deployable, easy to use, and rechargeable battery-powered solution to one of the major causes of death in developing nations-respiratory problems.
Dr. Dayo Olakulehin demonstrated his innovative invention, the D-Box (Image source: Vanguardngr)
About D-Box
The D-Box is an innovative ventilator designed to automate Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) bags and deliver controlled breaths to patients with respiratory problems
Essentially, the D-Box is different because it is less sophisticated and less complex than existing ventilators. Olakulehin said it is portable, cheaper, and easier to handle. “While the big teaching hospitals have 5-6 units of ventilators that are electricity-dependent and sensitive, the D-box can work on battery power for 8-12 hours. It’s an amazing breakthrough.
“However it does not replace existing ventilators which exist for critical intensive care, it is being introduced to improve the quality of care that is available for the patient. “It is limited currently because it cannot be used for a child, unlike existing ventilators that have different modes, this is only Intermittent Positive Pressure Ventilation, IPPV, but we hope to improve it in the future,” as reported by Vanguardngr.
D-Box is a joint venture product of the Canadian product development firm Inertia Engineering + Design, headed up by Ray Minato and LigandCorp, owned by Dr. Dayo Olakulehin. The product was also publicly endorsed at the Lagos launch by officials from CMUL/LUTH; National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi, Lagos; Lagoon Hospital; and Inertia Engineering + Design, Canada.
Olakulehin, who is also the founder of Africa’s first of its kind Medical Innovation Hub, PAMIH, said a well-established lack of pediatric ventilators and specialized pediatric critical care physicians and nurses, make children and neonates significantly more affected by this problem.
On his motivation, he said: “In 2012, while I was at the Olikoye Ransome Kuti Children emergency ward, LUTH, I had manually ventilated a five-year-old boy for four hours and at about 2 am, I fell asleep, only to be awakened by the boy’s father, as reported by NGRGuardian News.
