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An artificial heart for just $2500, Hope for millions

by Amitjha | March 18, 2009 at 10:08 pm

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Milllions of people die because of heart complcation in the west as well as east.This artificial heart at such a low cost can save millions of lives who were not in the position to afford.India is getting popular as low cost and world class health car faciilty and this artificial heart is one such demonstraton of low cost advatage.

It'll be to coronary care what Nano is to cars, say scientists at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, who have devised an

artificial heart that could save lives for just Rs 1 lakh.

The research team says trials of the prototype lab—constructed heart have been successful on small animals and the gadget is being perfected on goats. The institute has applied for permission to conduct human trials.

The Total Artificial Heart (TAH) — said to be the first such in the country — has been developed by a team of scientists at IIT-Kgp's school of and technology.

After four years of painstaking research, the scientists say their creation is better and far more affordable than the first artificial heart developed in the US, which showed a ``high rate failure'' and at Rs 30 lakh, beyond the reach of the common man.

The inventors hope to fit the heart into an ailing patient within a few months, once permissions from the Indian Council of Medical Research come through. The unique 13—chamber heart is working fine in small animals, said a member of the team. Human tests are to be conducted at Medical College and Hospital (MCH), Kolkata.
Senior cardiac surgeons— Madhusudan Pal, Bhaskar Ukil, Tarun Saha and Kalishankar Das from MCH and Rajiv Narang of AIIMS, Delhi — will conduct the human trials.