Friday, August 31, 2007
A way out of the death trap
This is an article published in THE HINDU on 27/12/2004. I wonder why this project is still not materialized. Especially when we still have about 3 to 4 cases every year. If any of you reading this blog can render your help please do the needful. the contact persons are in the article itself.
"When we doctors are able to remove the inanimate objects like safety pin from a human body without causing any harm to the particular person, why are we struggling to save a child which has fallen into a deep bore? This was the major query that prodded me on," explained Dr. V. Anand.
EIGHT deaths of children have been reported in the country since September 2001. Thanks to unused borewells turning into veritable death traps.
With borewells becoming indispensable due to acute water scarcity and many of them being rendered unusable owing to depletion of water or poor yield, chronically water scarce regions like Coimbatore have thousands of death traps all around.
The major reason for them becoming killers is because of human greed.
A joint project
Once their users realise that the borewells are unusable they should close them. Or they should allow the casing pipes to remain in the borewells themselves.
But when the casing pipes, costing hardly Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 3,000, are removed, even a six-inch bore could become wider and trap an unwary child.
In the recent history of the country, only 6-year-old Deivaraj of Dindigul (June 8, 2004) and 2-year-old Sandhya of Bellary (April 11, 2002), have been rescued alive from borewells.
Of that too, the former died at the hospital.
Of that too, the former died at the hospital.
This prompted Dr. V. Anand, founder trustee of the MCV Memorial ENT Trust, Pollachi, who is a member of the Greater Chennai Disaster Management Team, to sponsor a project costing about Rs. one lakh to rescue such hapless children.
For this, he roped in a team of eight students - four from the Mechanical (M. Ganesan, M. Gurumurthi, K. Sivajothi, G. Sundar) and four from the Electronics and Communication Department (P. Praveen Kumar, K.P. Sridhar, C. Suresh Babu, R. Vijayakumar) of the Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi.
"When we doctors are able to remove the inanimate objects like safety pin from a human body without causing any harm to the particular person, why are we struggling to save a child which has fallen into a deep bore? This was the major query that prodded me on," explained Dr. V. Anand.
The Fire and Rescue Services personnel find it difficult due to unknown levels of humidity, temperature and oxygen in the depths of the borewell. Rescue work can last close to 10 hours. "The time taken is long enough to kill a precious life. Even if rescued, the child may die due to injuries sustained. This has created an open challenge to the field of medicine, rescue and the whole human society," he asserted.
Pointing out that it would be impossible for any child to survive if it were to get trapped in a hole beyond 40 ft, he tried to identify the mechanical requirements.
With the help of a resourceful technician of the college, P. Munusamy, while the Mechanical students designed and fabricated the equipment, the other team measured the temperature, humidity and oxygen levels.
Systematic fashion
The students went about in a very systematic fashion - from identifying the incidents in the country, visiting the accident spots to learn the travails faced by the rescue teams, meeting the relatives of the victims and speaking to the doctors on the difficulties faced in such cases.
Stand-alone equipment
Stand-alone equipment
They learnt that the major problem faced by the rescue teams was their inability to see the child inside the deep bore. "It won't be proper to use an electrical light which would cause heat. Hence, we devised stand-alone equipment that does not require electricity. Thus we thought of a 12V infrared CCD camera, which could help us learn whether the child is alive and how it is located. By using a hand blower, we could help the child get some oxygen. After locating the child we should use a special grasper (based on the concept of forceps used in maternity) to get it out of the hole," the students said.
These special graspers can lock on to the shoulder area, wrist or ankle of the child.
These have been specially designed and fabricated to provide open and close control at one end and facility to extend it by adding additional pipe lengths.
"Currently we have equipment to work up to 60 ft."
All the equipment could be taken in a jeep whose batteries could be used to provide the required energy for the infrared camera.
The project took one whole year and " after a number of demonstrations using baby dolls, we are now ready to meet any actual eventuality," say the students.
"We are prepared to help any rescue operation within 300 km radius from Pollachi and you can call us on 93448 45189."
The trust has kept a doctor with resuscitation medicines ready to go with the team as the child requires immediate medical attention or other wise even the shock might kill it.
The project was submitted to the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, about a month ago.
The President has forwarded the same to the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu.
By G. Satyamurty
© Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu
© Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu
Friday, July 6, 2007
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