The spread of Coronavirus has now resulted in over 920,000 confirmed cases worldwide with more than 46,000 deaths. Hospitals and healthcare institutions around the world are now becoming inundated with cases as the number continues to rise. And becase of this, ventilator shortage has now become an increasing problem. In the United Kingdom, doctors are now allowed to choose who will receive a ventilator and who will not. However, on the the other side of the world, a solution could arrives thanks to ingenious student from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Who needs it the most? UK doctors now face with ventilator shortage; Here's a possible solution
According to a report in The Guardian, the British Medical Association (BMA) recently released a new protocol that all hospitals in the UK need to follow.
Since there is a shortage of ventilators in hospitals, the BMA announced that doctors must ration the health facilities that they use on all patients. The agency suggested that healthier and younger people must be prioritized to receive ventilators and other medical necessities compared to older, weaker patients.
This is in line with the fact that older people have lesser chances of surviving SARS-CoV-2. Because of this, UK doctors think that younger people should have a limited number of ventilators to keep them alive while they battle the virus.
"Relevant factors predicting survival include the severity of acute illness, presence and severity of co-morbidity and, where clinically relevant, patient age," said the document. "Those patients whose probability of dying, or requiring a prolonged duration of intensive support, exceeds a threshold level would not be considered for intensive treatment, though, of course, they should still receive other forms of medical care."
Additionally, once the pandemic continues to spread to more people, BMA has suggested that prioritizing medical equipment will become a normal practice in the healthcare industry. Older people, meanwhile, might get lesser chances of receving those same medical equipment.
Good news! MIT creates a cheaper ventilator for everyone!
The UK is not the only country facing with ventilator shortage. The United States, for example, only has 160,000 ventilators so far. Based on projections, this will not enough for all patients diagnosed with the disease.
Thankfully, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently created a better solution to address the ventilator shortage. The students created a ventilator that can be built with only $100 worth of parts--compared to the standard pricing of $50,000 for each ventilator.
The innovative design of the machine relies upon a bag-valve resuscitator--a piece of equipment found in bulk at most hospitals to help patients breathe, the report said.
MIT is also seeking approval from the country's Food and Drug Administration to create more of these cheap ventilators to help address the equipment deficit in the US and, hopefully soon, around the world.
