An innovative product that can turn a boon for people in remote rural areas as it provides emergency medical care as well as out-patient services – AmbuPod – caught the attention of entrepreneurs at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit here.
Developed by a Pune-based doctor Lavanian Dorairaj, the AmbuPod is a single-patient all-weather Basic Life Support (BLS) micro-ambulance that supports a makeshift clinic. It can be connected to any vehicle, from motorcycle, to auto-rickshaw to wheelbarrow for easy navigation along narrow paths or any difficult terrain.
The solar-powered ambulance has a medical attendant to provide resuscitative care while the vehicle is in motion.
The pollution-free vehicle has a hi-tech software to facilitate sharing of patient’s health details with the hospital doctor, including ECG, explains Dr. Dorairaj, who has developed the ambulance with the help of his daughter Yamini, a psychology graduate and an aspiring entrepreneur. “We have applied for a patent and looking for investors to scale up the project,” they told The Hindu .
The AmbuPod has a kit that allows the setting up of a makeshift clinic that can run OPD services. All the medical instruments on the AmbuPod can be charged by solar power. It is agile enough to climb hills, mountains and move through narrow village roads or slum paths, they explain.
The low-cost, hi-tech AmbuPod can help activate 24x7 ambulance service and six-days-a-week primary out-patient services in any village or slum in less than three working days. On normal days, the medical assistant sitting in the AmbuPod becomes the eyes and ears of a doctor in the city and communicates with him/her to extend treatment to the patients in their own village/habitation.
Ms. Yamini says they have been spreading awareness on the product seeking to tie up with NGOs who share the same passion to make a difference.
The AmbuPod is priced in the range of ₹ 3.5 lakh to ₹4 lakh.
