Researchers at AIIMS have developed a novel device to administer intravenous drugs directly into the bone marrow in case of medical emergencies like heart attacks, trauma injuries and dehydration.
The device — IntraOz — would help treat patients in whom doctors are unable to locate a vein to administer intravenous (IV) medicines.
“The vein through which IV medicines are given is untraceable in patients who have suffered cardiac arrest, trauma injuries, dehydration. In such cases, using IntraOz, we can directly inject the medicine into the long bones,” Jayant Karve of the Stanford India Biodesign Centre at AIIMS said.
Mr. Karve along with his colleague Srinivas Kiran Jaggu were conferred the India Innovation Pioneers Challenge (IIPC) Award 2009 in the Scholar Sparks category. The award, instituted by the Department of Science and Technology and Indo-U.S. S&T Forum, carries Rs 3 lakh in cash and a citation.
Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan gave away the awards here on Friday night.
The innovation is also useful in treating children.
“The idea is to save precious seconds in attending to emergencies as any delay in treatment may lead to morbidity,” Mr. Karve said.
The device developed by the young scholars is cheap when compared to those used in foreign countries.
Prabhakar Kulkarni of Pune-based Agharkar Research Institute bagged the second prize in the same category for developing a polymer for long term storage and transportation of DNA samples at room temperature.
The patented technology — Uspore — uses sporopollenin microcapsules isolated from spores and pollen grains which are in the form of micronic or sub-micronic capsules, he said.
Manjeet Mapara and S.M. Abdul Khader of Manipal College of Dental Sciences got the third prize for developing indigenous dental implants which are superior and cheaper compared to all the contemporary implants in the market.
Sudipta Saha of Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata got an honourable mention for presenting a computer-based system to determine the vertical velocity of sperms.
Nakul Khanna and Abhinav Bansal of the G.D. Goenka Public School Delhi also earned an Honourable Mention for developing a massaging shoe.
