Pumani bCPAP

In 2010, a team of Rice students (including Jocelyn) designed a low-cost bubble CPAP from a shoebox, water bottle, and two aquarium pumps for their senior design project. Just a few years down the road, this device has been successfully implemented in Queens, gone through a second generation design, and received a $2 million grant to implement it in all public hospitals in Malawi. Today, we brought in the Pumani bCPAP, the latest version that is now being commerically manufactered by 3rd Stone Design, to the Chatinkha Nursery and the Peds High Dependency Unit. Pumani means to breathe in Chichewa, the most common language in Malawi. This was really exciting because from here on out, we will be bringing the Pumani to all the other hospitals.

In addition to the machine itself, we also distributed supplies including hats, nasal prongs, suction catheters, pulse oximeters, and feeding tubes. When we gave Chrissy, our awesome CPAP nurse in HDU, all the supplies, she proudly hid them in the bottom of the cupboard so no one else could find them. She said that if we don’t hide it, the supplies which are meant to last the next 6 months will be used up in a week. While it was quite amusing to watch Chrissy proudly show me that the supplies were hidden on the bottom shelf, it made me uneasy to realize how precious medical supplies are here since they never know if something that runs out will be re-stocked.

Presentation at Morning Handover

We also presented all the technologies that we brought at the pediatrics morning handover meeting. The technologies were the phototherapy light stand, a manual breast pump, the bCPAP heating sleeve, and the blood pressure monitor. At the end of the presentation, we spoke with a doctor from America that has been working in the district hospitals in Malawi as a Fulbright scholar. An interesting point that she made was that devices that we make should be designed in such a way that it is difficult to remove the power cord or batteries because it is not uncommon to have people steal them. She said it was really frustrating when someone wasn’t able to deliver oxygen from the oxygen concentrator simply because the power cord was stolen.

Later on in the day while Sam and I were collecting data in the nursery, a medical school student came up to us to tell us that we should design devices that can be made in Malawi. He pointed out that even if these devices are low-cost, the shipping cost to Malawi is very expensive. With so much international aid pouring into Malawi, I’ve realized that in order for a country to truly be independent and improve itself, the drive needs to come from within. 40% of Malawi’s government budget comes from international aid. Ambitious and kind-hearted volunteers come and go, and a project is very difficult to sustain when it is powered by an outside source. Hopefully one day in the near future, Malawi will be able to produce its own affordable medical technologies.

 

Here is a brief and interesting article about Malawian politics:
http://news.yahoo.com/impoverished-malawi-sells-presidential-jet-15-mln-095422594.html