Create a rugged "low-cost high-grade" open-source ICU unit that can be deployed easily and quickly.
There's a lethal lack of ICU beds in the world.
- There is a critical lack of ICU beds in many emerging countries. The current situation is that the only way to get a patient into an ICU bed is to be transferred to a hospital in a major city.
- The Covid crisis has shown that the current ICU infrastructure is not sufficient to deal with a pandemic.
- The current geopolitical instability might lead to wars and conflicts that will require a large number of ICU beds.
- The climate change crisis will lead to more natural disasters that will require a large number of ICU beds.
- Most ICU equipment is made for the developed world and is not adapted to the needs of the developing world: humidity, temperature, stable power supply, etc.
The current ICU infrastructure is :
- very expensive and requires a lot of maintenance.
- very complex and requires a lot of training to operate.
- very slow to deploy.
Leveraging the open-source community and the open-source hardware movement, we can create a rugged "low-cost high-grade".
- During the Covid crisis there has been a global movement of locked-in engineers that contributed to the fight against the virus by designing and building ventilators, syringe pumps, oxygen concentrators, masks, etc. according to the open-source model.
- Many of the elements needed for an ICU unit are already available in the open-source world.
- The open-source model allows easy replication and adaptation to local needs.
- There's a huge markup currently on medical equipment, sometimes more than 1000%.
- A commercial syringe pump (a simple motor pushing a syringe to deliver fluids to the patient) currently costs around 2000€, but it can be built for 100€ with the exact same specifications. Each ICU bed requires 4-5 syringe pumps.
- A commercial ventilator (a machine that helps the patient breathe) currently costs around 20,000€, but it can be built for 1000€ with the exact same specifications. Each ICU bed requires 1 ventilator.
- The ICU unit needs to be able to operate in harsh environments: unstable power supply, high humidity, high temperature, etc.
- The ICU unit needs to be able to operate in remote areas: no internet, no phone, no electricity, etc.
- The ICU unit can be deployed in remote hospitals and dispensaries in emerging countries, potentially heavily reducing the number of patients that need to be transferred to a major city.
- The ICU unit can be deployed in mobile units that can be easily transported to remote areas during natural disasters or conflicts.
- The ICU unit can be deployed in the army to provide medical support to soldiers and civilians in the field.
- Governments might want a number of fastly deployable ICU units to be available in case of a pandemic or a natural disaster.