TED TALK - Bloodless Blood Test

WHAT IS THE SOURCE ABOUT?

http://www.ted.com/talks/myshkin_ingawale_a_blood_test_without_bleeding.html (published FEB 2012, watched DEC 6)


BRIEF SUMMARY

This is a TED Talk by Myshkin Ingawale (profile in TED) who is an engineer by profession (works at but designed a blood testing machine which doesn't actually need a blood sample, hence a non-invasive blood testing device.

A Coulter Counter

He gets his inspiration from a trip to his home town, Mumbai and a nearby town called Parol, where he witnessed the death of a baby and a mother due to undiagnosed anaemia (a condition in which there is a deficiency of red cells or of haemoglobin in the blood, resulting in pallor and weariness). he highlights the fact that "anaemia is something which is not supposed to be fatal". And that the cures are very cheap and extremely affordable in a ll parts and corners of the world. 


He researched to find that usually a Coulter Counter (picture above) is used to analyse the blood samples. This piece of machinery cost upwards of $10,000 and is widely available in most parts of the country and in the world. 

"But this is not available in Parol. Also, that woman who was operating the machine, the technician, is not available in Parol.", He says.

Using this as inspiration, he worked with a few of his colleagues to build a machine which is a non-invasive and cheap method to measure blood hemoglobin level, oxygen saturation and heart rate. 

In the talk Mr. Ingawale concludes by saying that by implementing this machine into all communities, that he and his colleagues have created will help (or even directly) eradicate any deaths which occur as a result of anemia.



STRENGTHS

1. Mr. Ingawale was himself involved in the manufacture of this machine so he was giving a first hand account of how he developed this machine. 
2. The purpose of this talk was to increase awareness of this machine but also to some extent how simple solutions can help the healthcare system in poor communities in developing countries like India.

WEAKNESSES

1. I feel the talk doesn't highlight the possible problems the government could face while implementing these machines into the healthcare system.
2. The purpose of this talk is to basically promote this machine that he has built and generally gives a very positive outlook to it --- "My business plan is very simple. I'm just going to sell these to every clinic in the world."

RELEVANCE

This talk is very interesting in the sense that it gives me some new ideas about what I could do for my final product for the EPQ. 

Previously I was thinking of writing a dissertation style essay outlining how social and economic factors in a given community could affect the availability of healthcare for the people in the community. After watching this video, I feel I could instead do a report style paper in which I would be advising a governing body about the current situation of healthcare provisions in the community and provide some suggestions as to what could be done to improve this. 

Also in this talk, the setting is in India, which is what I am planning to write about in my final piece. It is easy to relate to the situation that he describes in Mumbai to the conditions I saw at my work experience placement. It is interesting to the similarity between the conditions I saw and the ones that Mr. Ingawale as in people being disadvantaged by the unavailability of simple medications or diagnosis.

MY OPINION AND CONCLUSION

http://blog.ted.com/2012/11/30/the-bloodless-blood-test-fellows-friday-with-myshkin-ingawale/ (revied in a later post) - This website gives a really good review of this talk and also consists of an interview with Mr. Ingawale. This gives a very holistic view of how his life experiences help shape his thoughts towards the problem that he witnessed.

Overall, I am totally fascinated by this new development and also by how such a seemingly simple looking device can form a solution for such a massive problem faced in developing countries and poor communities.

The information given in this talk is reliable as TED is a very well known platform which lets people to come and talk only by invitation after they have applied to come and present their ideas. So this allows to filter through only reliable and valid information to come through. 

In conclusion, this source has had a very big impact on the direction of my project and my plan for my final product for the project.