Bengal students develop oxygen saving device

Kolkata -  Three students of a Howrah engineering college claim to have designed a device which reduces wastage of oxygen during ventilation and acts as a non-invasive  ventilator.

The device, named Oxy-Con (oxygen control), has been developed by Nilanjan Ghosh with help of Dipayan Jash and Akram Ali, all third-year students at MCKV Institute of Engineering  (MCKIVE), college officials said Tuesday.

The device can bring down the cost for an hour's continuous oxygen supply from Rs.50 to Rs.17, said Ghosh.

"The ratio between inhaling and exhaling is 1:2, which means the total inspiration time is just 20 seconds. As such, the effective oxygen per minute is just 20 seconds while the wastage is 40  seconds," he said.

"The Oxy-Con, which pauses during expiration, will help save a large amount of oxygen for a patient on ventilation," Ghosh said.

He said the device could foretell when the gas pressure would reach less than four kg which was the time for cylinder replacement.

Ghosh said he got the idea to develop the device from his father, a medical researcher.

He said the device could supply oxygen as per the patient's requirement.

The device could be used at home, nursing homes or rehabilitation institutions on patients with chronic breathing ailments or illnesses that require long-term ventilator assistance, he said.

"Hundreds of patients fail to get positive support in health care system in our country. This low-cost device will help those below the poverty line," said A.K. Sanyal, medical director, Ruby  General Hospital.

"We plan to send this device to various hospitals and the market," said K.K. Kejriwal, the college's managing trustee.