Hyderabad: King Koti hospital develops life-saving jugaad mask

Hyderabad: King Kothi hospital has started using non-breathable oxygen masks, which not only help in saving but also increases saturation-level instantly.

The masks were created with JUGAD using various medical instruments and tested on patients who are on oxygen. About 20 patients were on oxygen with non-breathable masks and the results are good, said doctors.

There are three types of oxygen masks in the market, used for different purposes -- Nasal Cannula, simple face mask and non-breathable mask. A patient inhales environmental oxygen with both Nasal Cannula and simple mask but the face masks available in the markets are not much effective and the saturation level will take time to increase due to mixing of both oxygen and carbon dioxide.

The non-breathable masks are very different from the regular masks which carry a small bag with them and it has one exit hole in it while the other hole connected to an oxygen cylinder and the oxygen stored in a bag the patient can inhale pure oxygen. The doctors said, "Most of the Covid patients come in critical conditions and when ICU is full with other critical patients, it will take some time to arrange a bed for the new patients. To make the patient stable until shifted to ICU, we have created these masks," said Dr Mallikarjun of King Koti Hospital. The mask is developed in our hospital using different medical instruments to treat critically-ill patients to maintain saturation until they are shifted to ICU."

"We saw this on social media and developed it on our own as it is a long process to purchase it from the market," Superintendent of King Koti Hospital Dr Rajendra said, adding that this is not a permanent solution and also cannot be used for a long time but it can be used as a lifesaver for a few hours.