An interview on the Meditech Project on paper today (full article in attach, english translation to the bottom)
A performance leap in providing health care assistance in extreme situations is possible thanks to a micro-computer and a mobile or Wi-Fi device.
It is all packed in a carrying case, that is the base of a project engineered by Enrico Miglino, an Italian researcher who has been living in Santa Eulària (Ibiza, Spain) for five years, and has been working on technology projects for years.
«I carry out the development of the software and the prototypes, working on circuits from the idea to the realization of the product. Companies usually hire me for carrying out a project or I propose them new ideas», Enrico Miglino explains.
Based on that, this Italian researcher is completing the details of his project, called Meditech, which is a mobile medical device.
«My idea is the realization of a portable product whose price is extremely competitive and integrates electronic components and circuits, and enables paramedics in an extreme situation, such as an accident, to connect as if they were in an hospital or an health care center in order to get the information detectable from the patient real-time», he explains.
So, in case an emergency operating room needs to be prepared at the nearer hospital and the patient is in a isolated place, paramedics can rely on a single unit including everything they need and «they can send the data about the patient real-time.»
At the end of July, Enrico plans to complete the number zero prototype, which has to be ready and running to be used in emergency situations and rough environments, so that at the end of the year it will be possible to test it. Moreover, so far this device has been quite cost-effective.
As a matter of fact, it has been partly funded by Farnell Element14, a manufacturer of electronic components. Farnell launched a competition for new ideas related to innovative projects and Enrico participated with Meditech and got a contribution in the form of components.
Another important characteristic of this project is that it is open source, that is free hardware and software. «It is an open project that anybody can carry out, provided that nobody will market it; besides, it has a humanitarian value, as it can be used for example after an earthquake or a tsunami, when medical care is needed and difficult to provide».
Each unit sold to a customer automatically generates a donation. With the payment of a unit from the customer, Enrico Miglino will produce a second unit. «It is obvious that the customer knows the destination of the second unit, as well as the organization that receives it, and that in turn knows who is the customer.»
As a matter of fact, he says that one of his customers in Nigeria has already issued an order to produce one of these briefcases and that the second will be used in a Nigerian hospital.
«The important thing is that the material can be connected to the hospital through the laptop when you are in a dramatic situation and thus be able to work with the hospital», said Miglino, who also points out that in Ibiza there are the right conditions for the use of such material.
(thanks to antotranslation.com for the english translation)
| Un maletin salva vidas - El periódico de Ibiza y Formentera.pdf |
