City doc in US makes manual ventilator safer to use

A Mumbai-born doctor has bagged $1-million funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop his innovation that makes manual ventilator safer for patients. Dr Prathamesh Prabhudesai, a KEM Hospital alumnus at present based in New York, has already been contacted by the US Air Force for his “precise” ventilator.

Mumbai: Prabhudesai’s ventilator falls in the category of ‘bag valve mask’ or “self-inflating bag” that is held in hand by a doctor, nurse or, at times, a relative to help patients unable to breathe well. Studies have, however, shown that providers are unable to deliver safe breaths most of the time, resulting in life-threatening complications. “Those operating the bag ventilator sometimes press too hard or too fast,” said the 28-year-old doctor, who grew up in Goregaon and completed MBBS from KEM Hospital, Parel.

US studies have shown that 13.1 million resuscitator bags are used in the US annually, but 81% of the time these bags are used improperly and cause life-threatening complications that have a mortality rate of up to 40%.