KIMS In Bhubaneswar Develops Easy-To-Use Gadget To Save Cardiac Arrest Victims

Bhubaneswar: Doctors of Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Odisha capital have developed a cost-effective technology that can provide prompt assistance and save a person at home suffering from cardiac arrest.

The hand-held gadget, ‘Sanjivani’, is a critical life-saving device and assumes significance in the light of significant rise in heart attack-related deaths in recent years. The key to saving a person, who has suffered cardiac arrest, is by applying the Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) procedure. If initiated early, it can triple the survival rate.

But poor emergency medical service, traffic congestion and the large population in India pose a challenge. It’s the family members, friends or bystanders who have to initiate the call for help and provide high-quality chest compression till the arrival of emergency medical help. This is where the Sanjivani comes as a game-changer and extremely advantageous, said Dr Ashok Kumar Badamali, Associate Professor of Cardiac Anaesthesia at KIMS.

Sanjivani is India’s first manual CPR assisted device and provides audio-visual instructions in regional languages about the rate, depth, and adequacy of chest recoil. It comes in quick aid to revive the patient by the immediate respondent without wasting precious time while waiting for ambulances.

The victims of cardiac arrest of any origins like heart attack, electrocution, lightning injury, drowning, collapse due to choking/food allergy, suffocation due to fire mishap can benefit from the device. “Human hand has more than 20 small bones in palm area making quality chest compression a difficult job for the rescuer due to 90-degree position of palm and forearm in manual chest compressions. A first responder can perform high-quality CPR till the arrival of the emergency medical team for a victim of cardiac arrest with the hand-held gadget Sanjivani, where the palm and forearm bones are in a longitudinal position,” said Dr Badamali.

The working prototype of the device was made with assistance of the NIDHI PRAYAS Grant, a programme of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) that supports aspiring innovators through KIIT-TBI. The simulation testing was carried out at KIMS, a constituent of KIIT Deemed-to-be-University, Bhubaneswar.

The innovation has been appreciated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during the inauguration of the start-up building O-Hub in Bhubaneswar. The gadget was also appreciated by the head of medical innovation, WHO, Geneva Louise Agarsnap on World Health Day on April 7.