16-Yr-Old Conferred President's Award For Building A Device To Predict 'Silent' Heart Attacks

The Children’s Day just passed away, and there was a lot of discussion about how the young minds are our only hope in this world where things are going haywire now and then.

It was also on the occasion of Children’s Day that President Ram Nath Kovind gave away the National Child Awards 2017. The awards were given to celebrate the exceptional achievements of children. This year, the President honoured 16 children, with gold and silver medals.

The Logical Indian brings forth the story of 16-year-old President’s Gold Medal Recipient, Akash Manoj, for his path-breaking research in preventive cardiology.

This is not his first award. He has been awarded the Rashtrapati Navapravarthan Puraskar from former President Pranab Mukherjee. He has also been nominated for Bal Shree Award, 2018.

Speaking to The Logical Indian, Akash, a student of The Ashok Leyland School, Hosur, Tamil Nadu, has talked about his journey and what made him take up this research.

A personal experience prompted Akash’s research

It was in 2015 when Akash’s grandfather collapsed due to a silent heart attack. “He was healthy otherwise, but because he was diabetic and had high blood pressure, he had ischemia. This prompted me to figure out ways to help predict silent heart attacks,” he explained.

Akash has always been an avid reader. “I would often visit the library at The Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, which is more than an hour away from my hometown. Also, the internet gave me a lot of insights,” he said.

A heart attack is characterised by a chest pain, shortness of breath and pain in the left arm. High blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol levels increase the risk of heart attacks. “I used all this knowledge and my motivation to build the device,” he added.

Akash was invited to Tokyo University of Science, Japan for presenting his project at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. His project got endorsed and clinically approved by their experts.

How does the device work?

A small silicon patch is stuck on the back of the ear or wrist which monitors if there has been a silent heart attack instead of going through tests like echo cardiograms.

This patch uses an electrical impulse which is positively charged to draw negative charges towards it.

These negative charges are the proteins that trigger a silent attack. If the amount of Fatty Acid Binding Protein 3 is high, then there is an urgent requirement of medical attention. Akash said, “Vulnerable people are recommended to use this device twice a day – at night and during the day.”

Plans to launch this device

Akash was invited by the then president Pranab Mukherjee as an innovation scholar to stay at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for two weeks. He was given research facilities in India’s premier institutions viz.IIT Madras, AIIMS to help him develop his innovative project.

Akash plans to launch the product by mid-2018. He has already signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as well as All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) for commercial production of the device. “The device would be provided at a low cost of Rs. 900 and I would be patenting it soon,” he said.

Akash wants to pursue cardiology from AIIMS and be a clinical researcher so that he can develop many other devices to help people in the long run. The Logical Indian congratulates Akash on the commendable feat that he has achieved at such a young age. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours and hope that he continues makings such inventions to help bring medical advancement in the country.