Manipal based start-up now claims, it has a solution for the State's problem with transportation of vaccines to rural areas. A portable vaccines carrier that they have designed eases transport of vaccines, they believe.
In Karnataka, vaccines are being transported in thermocoal boxes or Thermos Flasks to rural areas. Time and again, the questions have been raised about the potency of vaccines thus transported. A group of students from the Incubation Centre at Manipal University have designed a portable carrier that helps transport vaccines without affecting it’s potency.
The start up has named their tiffin box sized creation Sanjivani and they explain, it is for a reason. “When we thought about a name, a team member suggested this. It came after a mythology reference where Hanuman got medication to save Lakahmana's life,” says Donson, COO of the startup Blackfrog technologies.
Be it regular dispatch to vaccination camps or a particular drug during an epidemic in a remote village, 'Sanjivani' is the right choice. Currently, there is no alternative to an icebox for bringing virus samples from the field into a laboratory. Field biologists are forced to settle for this rather archaic method that more often than not compromises sample viability.
Imaginably, this is a nightmare for the science of healthcare. Sanjivani’s the answer.
He explains that a key challenge that the health sector faces in India when it comes to immunization is lack of cold chains. “In India, transporting vaccines to rural areas is a challenge. We realised that in Karnataka, they are being transported using ice boxes,” says Donson.
The potency of the vaccine is, however, the concern that arises of alternatives like these. Ideally, vaccines ought to be stored at temperatures between 2-8 degrees for it’s potency to be right. Hence, the idea originated. This was among the problem statements that was given to the team following inter-disciplinary interactions.
The portable device can be monitored real time. Be it the battery time, temperature or location of the device, all parameters could be tracked remotely.
“For instance, the volunteers take it out to the field, it can be traced. Another person can remotely monitor the battery levels of the device. It also has an inbuilt alarm that prompts one when battery is to be changed. This will ensure temperature is maintained,” says Donson.
Even as their invention is more expensive than having to use ice boxes , the team believe that it will ensure the vaccines' potency is retained besides saving the cost arisig from wastage of vaccines and it’s disposal.
Having worked on it for six months, the team has put together a prototype. They are awaiting the Biotech Ignition Grant for the same and have been shortlisted for the final round.
