IIT Kharagpur creates Rs 1 lakh artificial heart

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India has successfully created an artificial heart that the scientists of the premier institute claims will not cost more than a lakh. That translates to approximately US $ 2500, almost one thirtieth of the currently available artificial heart.

IIT Kharagpur's Total Aritifical heart may cost just Rs 1 lakh

The IIT team involved in the research says that the laboratory prototype has been successfully experimented on small animals and is now being perfected for goats. The institution has applied for permission for human trials.

The Total Artificial Heart by IIT Kharagpur scientists is expected to cost Rs 100,000 making it affordable for the common man in India

Named The Total Artificial Heart (TAH), it is first of its kind in India.

The scientists from IIT Kharagpur say that the artificial hearts have high failure rates, and high costs to boot. At around Rs 30 lakh when imported to India, it is completely out of the question for a common man. The Total Artificial Heart is the product of last four years work for the IIT scientists, and they believe it will prove to be more efficient.

The orders from Indian Council of Medical Research are awaited in order to test the 13 chamber heart on an ailing patient and this could happen within few months. According to a team member, this unique heart is working fine with small animals; human tests are to be conducted at Medical College and Hospital (MCH), Kolkata. The human trials will be conducted by some of the senior cardiac surgeons which includes Madhusudan Pal, Bhaskar Ukil, Tarun Saha and Kalishankar Das from MCH and Rajiv Narang of AIIMS, Delhi.

“The TAH will be of great help to patients whose heart muscles have become so weak that they need immediate transplantation. Angioplasty, stents and even bypass surgery are of no use for such patients because they cannot strengthen muscles,” said Sujoy Guha, IIT- Kharagpur faculty member and bio-medical engineering expert, who is leading the artificial-heart team.

It is difficult to find donor organs and even if transplantation is done, the body develops auto rejection and severe medication is required to suppress immune reactions, added Guha.

One of the scientist rather in a humorous note said that Bengal might have lost the Tata Nano, but the world cannot miss this Rs.1 Lakh life save TAH.