The second wave of COVID-19 has birthed a grim situation in Nepal, with the number of cases and deaths steadily rising. The country’s healthcare system is suffering from a lack of hospital beds, oxygen, medications, vaccines, and other resources. To assist Nepal in such dire straits, National Innovation Center (NIC) is doing its best to help fight the COVID pandemic.
National Innovation Center Overview:
NIC is a non-profit organization formally established on 9 November 2012 by Mahabir Pun. He is a teacher, activist, internet hall of fame inductee, and Chairperson of NIC. The organization contributes to research, innovation, and technological development—with works on multiple disciplines of science.
Here, National Innovation Center is also an open hub for creative ideas and their support for growth. The organization has been working on numerous projects in different sectors (agriculture, healthcare, Artificial Intelligence (AI), software, and IT). And in these trying times, NIC is doing all it can to aid Nepal’s healthcare system.
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Works done by NIC during the pandemic:
During the pandemic, National Innovation Center was soon informed about the situation of different hospitals with a demand for medical equipment to prevent the spread of the virus. Soon after lockdown, a team at NIC started working on different ideas to generate as many medical equipments as they can in a productive and fast way. The firstmost priority was PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) for doctors, nurses, and others in need.
The ideas to develop necessary medical equipment were not new but its actual production was uncharted territory for the NIC team. Now, in a time where oxygen has become such a scarce commodity, it is also supporting hospitals with repairing and developing emergency ventilators, repairing oxygen concentrators, oxygen plants, and kidney dialysis machines.
NIC is also distributing CPAP, BiPAP, Pneumasks, and viral filters. Furthermore, it has collaborated with professionals at TU Delft University (Netherlands), Stanford University (USA) to support and help engineers at NIC with their work on ventilators, masks, reusable PPEs, and UVC Disinfection Chamber.
Moving on, the organization has created a conceptual design for a mini oxygen plant with a prototype development currently underway. Similarly, 63 3D printed Y-splitters and 55 brass Y-splitters of oxygen supply pipe have been prepared and distributed to various hospitals. Here, Y-splitters help divide oxygen between patients from a single cylinder.
Those were the major publicized contributions made by NIC during the pandemic we’ve managed to compile. If you’re aware of some more, feel free to drop a comment down below and we’ll update the article accordingly.
Donate to NIC
NIC is helping hospitals and locals with their expertise and medical equipment free of cost. Moreover, they have been working selflessly without any greed or expectation of monetary benefit to help the country overcome this pandemic. NIC gets its financial support from several organizations, individuals, and Nepalese all around the world in the form of donations.
Moving forward, if you want to support NIC’s noble cause and help out in any way you can, feel free to personally contact Mr. Mahabir Pun at:
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone / Whatsapp / Viber: +977-9841592361
Plus, you can also contribute by assisting in different projects or with your own innovative ideas. You can assist National Innovation Center in its fight against COVID financially too. One can choose to donate via bank deposit, mobile wallets, or other available options. To know more about the ways to contribute, click here.
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