Looking under the hood and seeing an incubator

[Adsos Letter]

Source: International Herald Tribune

The heat source is a pair of headlights. A car door alarm signals emergencies. An auto air filter and fan provide climate control.
But this contraption has nothing to do with transportation. It is a sturdy, low-cost incubator, designed to keep vulnerable newborns warm during the first fragile days of life.

Unlike the notoriously high-maintenance incubators found in neonatal intensive care units in the United States, it is easily repaired, because all of its operational parts come from cars.

And while incubators can cost $40,000 or more, this one can be built for less than $1,000.

The creators of the car parts incubator — a project being promoted by the Global Health Initiative at the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, or Cimit, a nonprofit consortium of Boston teaching hospitals and engineering schools — say it could prevent millions of newborn deaths in the developing world.





Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/16/healthscience/16incubators.php

[elleng]

1. And, not related or meaning to demean,

can also be used to cook food.

[TexasEditor]

2. Nice story, thanks.

[midnight]

3. Creative smart people working to help others. Can you imagine

if this is allowed in every industry?

[RC]

4. But what about the next quarterly statement?

We gotta keep an eye on what's important here. :sarcasm:

[formercia]

5. It's a lot simpler with chickens

https://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1975-03-01/How-To-Hatch-Chicks-In-A-Homemade-Incubator.aspx

Why does everything connected to human health have to be so expensive?

[Tansy_Gold]

6. See post #4

:sarcasm:

[formercia]

7. Yup!

Cradle to grave extortion.

What's the difference between a lawyer and a hooker?

The hooker stops screwing you after you're dead.

I think many in the health care Industrial complex fit that category.

[Nihil]

8. ... which is why this case needs a K & R ...

... as it is showing the good that is being done ...
:thumbsup:

[zipplewrath]

9. The 10% rule

The answer to your question is in something often called the "10% rule" The last 10% of ability takes 90% of the effort (and cost). You can make cheap medical equipment, but the regulatory environment is not particularly friendly to equipment that works just fine "90%" of the time. And the effort to make it work 99% is very expensive. And really, about the time some flaw in the system starts killing babies, the headline will read "inferior incubators sold to third world countries". The complaint will be that we are sending cheap incubators to third world countries that wouldn't be used here in the US except on chickens.