How A DIY Medical Device Saved This Newborn A Stint In Hospital

New Delhi: It was on June 9 that Sumit and Kashvi Saxena became parents. The family had taken care to take the Covid-19 test, but hadn’t anticipated other health problems for the baby. But as things would have it, the boy contracted ‘newborn jaundice’, the common disease marked by the yellowing of skin and eyes.

- Mohammad.Ibrar @timesgroup.com

The Saxenas were distraught because hospital care seemed troublesome given the corona overload. The infant’s uncle, Kanav Kahol, a computer scientist, decided then to innovate a phototherapy chamber using aquarium lights to treat the ailment.

“At the hospital, tests showed the bilirubin levels on the higher side, but the doctor wasn’t very keen on admitting the baby due to the risks related to the Covid pandemic,” said Kahol, a former professor at the Arizona State University, USA. In normal situations, the hospital would have suggested two days of phototherapy: a well- established treatment using lights.