Jagadish Hiremath, 48, Critical Care and ICU Equipment Expert

As an intensivist who also understands medical equipment design, Dr Jagadish Hiremath suddenly found himself in demand as Covid-19 hit India and a shortage of ventilators and ICU equipment seemed imminent. Even as his hospital in Anekal, Bengaluru began to function as a Covid-19 care centre in June, Hiremath was working with seven companies on alternative ventilator designs that could quickly and economically be manufactured in India.

We learnt that we don’t need full-fledged ventilators in most cases. Simpler devices could be built very quickly. At one point I joked to the state government that they should make me head of respiratory devices

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One of these, financed under the PM Cares Fund and manufactured by a PSU, has already hit the market. Another prototype by Mysore-based Skanray uses auto parts by Mahindra & Mahindra. Hiremath has also collaborated with Bosch on a humidified oxygen high-flow system, a simpler way of providing respiratory support. Aside from issuing popular citizen compliance messages in Kannada, Hiremath’s tweets on the number of young patients getting very sick helped dispel a false sense of security among youth. The doctor is now busy setting up a second hospital with 80 beds.

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