Mangaluru: Startup donates portable medical-grade refrigerator for Covid-19 specimen transport

MANGALURU: BlackFrog Technologies, a technology startup company based out of Manipal had developed Emvólio, a portable medical-grade refrigerator for the last-mile transport of blood, vaccines, serums and other biologicals that demand strict cold chain practices, last year. The team including co-founders Donson D’Souza and Ashlesh Bhat reached out to offer the devices to the district hospital, Udupi for the transport of Covid-19 specimens from the peripheral collection facilities on a pilot basis.The company donated two units for Covid-19 specimen transport and mobile Kiosk based application in Kundapur taluk.
Mayur U Shetty, CEO of BlackFrog Technologies, said, the commonly used chilled transport media like the ice boxes are often unreliable due to human error during freezing of ice/gel packs, leading to the risk of compromised testing resulting from specimen drying, contamination or degradation. Something that can have a far-reaching effect in today’s times, given that the WHO states that the virus specimens should be stored and transported at 2-8 degrees Celsius if they were to reach the laboratory in less than 72 hours. When the first false-negative case came up in New Delhi, there were speculations of improper sample-collection and handling,” he said.
Emvólio has a patented rapid-cooling technology that ensures temperature stabilisation to safe-limits over 96 percent faster than ice-based technologies, during temperature excursions. “The hospital staff found its utility extremely valuable. They have requested an additional three units of Emvólio for its kiosk-based collection centres so that they may even plug-in our product and use it as a stand-alone refrigerator for static storage of the samples until they are dispatched,” said Mayur.
Having previously used BlackFrog’s devices for routine vaccine delivery as part of one of its outreach programmes, SELCO Foundation has been provided one unit of Emvólio for use in a hospital in Tamil Nadu, which is solar-powered by them. They have also requested additional units for use in mobile sample-collection health units in Kerala and Sikkim. “We're now exploring applications in the Indian Railways as well for the ones that have been converted into mobile health-centers. The Indian government has supported and funded us in the past. We believe now it’s our turn to give back, “ he said.