HLL Lifecare Limited, a leading public sector global healthcare company, has launched a new product in the orthopaedic segment – HiCARE LIMO.
The novel, low-cost device for “Limb Immobilisation Device”, aimed at temporarily immobilising injured limbs in trauma patients for pre-hospital care. It is a simple, disposable and cost effective device which temporarily immobilises the lower limbs of the patients for up to six hours till definitive care is provided. The device has been developed to address the unmet Indian clinical need in a cost effective manner.
HiCARE LIMO is a product developed under a flagship programme of the Department of Biotechnology implemented at AIIMS and IIT, Delhi in collaboration with the Stanford University, USA and partnership of Indo-US S&T Forum. The aim of this programme is to create medical technology innovators/leaders in India by involving IITs, leading engineering institutions and partner medical institutions.
Therefore, the product was launched in the presence of prof. K. Vijay Raghavan, secretary, DBT, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt of India; Prof. R. K. Shevgaonkar, director, IIT-Delhi and Dr. M. Ayyappan, CMD, HLL Lifecare.
The development of the Limb Immobilisation Device programme is spearheaded by Dr. Balram Bhargava, Prof. of Cardiology, AIIMS and prof. Alok Ray, Head, Centre for Biomedical Engineering, IIT-D. The Department has authorised Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL), New Delhi for management of this programme including licensing out of the technologies.
The limb immobiliser is made up of cardboard with multiple creases for better encapsulation of different leg girth sizes, hip support section and multiple belts for immobilising joints at different locations. It is a single free-size device for right and left limb with better ‘wrapping effect’ and its unique strapping mechanism immobilises for a good 6 hours.
“This is an example of transitional science, which involves scientific knowledge with engineering, to develop innovative product that would benefit the trauma patients.” said, Prof. Raghavan
Further the DBT secretary emphasized, the need for the collaboration between various institutions of science, engineering and medicine for development of innovative products and cost effective commercialisation to benefit the masses.
“HiCARE LIMO is designed to address the unmet Indian clinical need in a cost-effective manner,” said Dr. Ayyappan.
India has the highest number of road accidents in the world, with a recent study of the WHO estimating 14 deaths per hour due to road accidents in the country. The most common injuries linked with road accidents are dislocation, fractures, sprain or contusions as a result from blunt, penetrating or crush type of injuries. For the prevention of major complications, the most crucial thing is to treat all joint, bone and muscle injuries in the first 4 to 6 hours of pre-hospital care and while the patient waits for medical attendance.
“In such a scenario, this device has the potential to save a lot of lives and contain the number of fatalities in road mishaps. It is a better way to temporarily immobilise injured lower limbs in trauma patients before they receive definitive care,” the HLL CMD noted.