An improvised protective device for use when intubating patients designed by Taiwanese doctor Lai Hsien-yung (賴賢勇) is being adopted in the Philippines to help doctors there stay safe amid the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.
“We made this acrylic aerosol box for my sister Dra. Frances Legaspi for Antipolo Doctors Hospital. Credits to Dr Lai Hsien-yung for the concept and design,” Anton Legaspi, whose family owns a business that makes customized designs, said on Facebook on Monday.
The hospital is in Antipolo, about 25km east of Manila.
Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times
Legaspi’s post was accompanied by several photographs of the box and a short demonstration video that was shot in the hospital. As of yesterday morning, his post was shared more than 60 times.
The “aerosol box” designed by Lai, an anesthesiologist at Mennonite Christian Hospital in Hualien, is a transparent cube made of acrylic that covers a patient’s head during endotracheal intubation, a necessary procedure for patients with the coronavirus who experience respiratory failure.
It has two holes on one side through which physicians can insert their hands to perform the procedure while shielded from the patient’s respiratory droplets.
Lai on Saturday shared his design on Facebook and gave permission for its noncommercial use. His invention was reported by the Central News Agency (CNA) and several other local media outlets.
Legaspi yesterday told CNA in an interview that he and his sister, an emergency room doctor, learned of the device on Sunday night through posts shared on social media and created the prototype the next morning, overcoming challenges caused by a lockdown of Metro Manila.
“We were lucky enough to get a supplier who had available stocks of raw materials. The workers at the shop live at the factory, so we were able to make it,” Legaspi said.
He said that his sister asked him if he could make such a box, because it was needed at the hospital as supplies of personal protective equipment in the Philippines are running low.
As of Monday afternoon, there were 462 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines, with 33 deaths and 18 patients who have recovered.
Legaspi’s version features larger holes to accommodate bigger arms.
Other suggestions he received from people in the medical field include making a small flap on the open side for additional maneuverability and protection, Legaspi said.
Donors and acrylic suppliers have pledged support for the production of the device, which would be donated to public and private hospitals nationwide, he said.
He estimated the cost of each aerosol box at 1,500 pesos (US$29.40), less than Lai’s estimate of about NT$2,000.
“It would be nice to have it mass-produced to cater to many more patients. It may still be used even after the COVID-19 pandemic,” Legaspi said.
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS