New Device can Help Reduce Risks for Baby in Complicated Births

An Argentine car mechanic has developed a new device which can help pull babies stuck in the birth canal to safety.

Known as the Odon Device, it has been developed by 59-year old Jorge Odon who said that he dreamt about the idea after watching a YouTube video on extracting a lost cork from a wine bottle.

Odon decided that the same process could be used to extract babies stuck in the birth canal and developed a prototype of his device in the kitchen by using a glass jar for a womb, his daughter's doll for the trapped baby, and a fabric bag and sleeve sewn by his wife as his lifesaving device.

The device works by slipping the plastic bag and sleeve over the baby's head. The bag is then inflated and is used to pull the baby out. His device has received endorsement by the World Health Organization while a US medical company has licensed it for commercial production. "This is very exciting. This critical moment of life is one in which there's been very little advancement for years", WHO's chief co-ordinator for improving maternal and perinatal health, Mario Merialdi said.

Source: Medindia