Indians Reusing Heart Devices Taken From Americans

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Few patients at Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai received the donated ICDs and their records have been reviewed in the study. But Parvi feels that the study is incomplete ."We clearly need more data," he says. "Hopefully, these data will help in achieving a prospective trial."

Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is a machine which automatically passes on life-saving electrical shocks to the heart of people who are prone to high risk of cardiac arrest. But, the cost of the equipment, which is four times the cost of a pacemaker (about $5,000 in the U.S.) makes it unaffordable to buy, for natives of developing countries.

It has already been proved by numerous studies that pacemakers can be successfully reused.

According to some researchers, rich countries can come up with a solution for this, by donating ICDs which have been already used by patients. The device can be taken dead bodies and can be taken from patients who got it removed because of some infection.