Chinese doctor at poorly equipped hospital saves premature baby by rigging up home-made ventilator
A doctor working at a rural hospital in southwest China saved the life of a premature baby by creating a makeshift ventilator out of other pieces of medical equipment, according to a newspaper report.
The child was born at the hospital in Meigu county in Sichuan province, but its organs were not fully formed and it had difficulty breathing, the Chengdu Business News said.
The small hospital was not equipped with a ventilator so doctor Ma Qunying rang another physician who taught her how to rig up a makeshift device, according to the article.
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She put the machine together using a suction device and an oxygen tube, the report said
Taking the baby to a larger hospital with more medical equipment would have taken up to six hours and put its life at risk, according to the article. The baby’s condition became stable after the infant used the machine.
Ma has taught other paediatricians how to make a ventilator in case a similar emergency arises in the future, the report said.
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It is not the first time home-made medical equipment has been made in China.
Ten kidney patients set up a do-it-yourself dialysis clinic in the Beijing suburb of Tongzhou in 2009 because they were too poor to afford hospital care.
Their machines were confiscated by the Beijing health authorities who said the medical treatment centre was illegal.
