On asking around, Sivakumar found that the hospital didn’t have enough advanced devices because of lack of funds.

Picture for representation only. By Alan Bruce [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Shocked and saddened, he returned to the US where he was studying at the time. The image of the newborns stuck in his mind, and he spoke about it to his childhood friend Vivek Kopparthi. The focus of his conversation was on how, as engineers, they should develop a solution for issues like these. While it was a depressing problem, Vivek also saw it as an opportunity – and together the duo took on the mission to solve a global challenge.You may also like: How a Clown in Delhi Is Helping Ailing Kids Cope With Tough Times
In 2014, they founded NeoLight, an empathy-driven technology company focused on developing medical devices for newborn care. The founders put in their own savings into the company for the first 18 months, the time in which they developed a viable product to help treat jaundice. Started in the US, NeoLight is now a team of 10 engineers that aims to deliver extra care that will give mothers and infants more satisfaction and peace than the current technologies.
“If a newborn goes to the hospital and needs to be treated for jaundice, the current treatments are such that they keep the baby away from the mother and force it to be in an ICU, only because the existing technologies cannot work outside a controlled temperature and humidity. We want to change that,” says 27-year-old Vivek who was one of the 30 Indian-origin innovators and entrepreneurs in the Forbes' 2017 list of super achievers under the age of 30.According to their website, 60% of newborns worldwide remain in the hospital longer than necessary. This is because most medical devices are designed for hospitals and not for the people they are meant to serve. Prolonged care increases the risk of side effects and places unnecessary emotional stress on families. Moreover, in countries with limited access to technology, newborns go without treatment.
Taking the example of neonatal jaundice, Vivek adds that lack of resources for jaundice treatment alone leads to 10 infant deaths per hour across the globe.

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NeoLight’s phototherapy device works on solar and battery power, and the company claims that it can treat babies much faster than any of the existing technologies. “The current devices for jaundice treatment are 5-feet tall, bulky, and expensive. NeoLight’s device is a small pad on which the baby can sleep. It can be carried around easily and can be charged with battery, solar, or any AC power source,” says Vivek, adding that the affordability of the device will help cater to a wider market in developing countries like India and Africa. The device uses LEDs to achieve light in the required wavelength, which are more effective when compared to the commonly used Compact Fluorescent Tubes (CFT) lamps that emit light over a broad spectrum.
NeoLight will start delivering the device to hospitals by the end of this year.

Picture for representation only. By Jacoplane (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Aside from this, NeoLight is also working on the same technology for developed countries where the major concern is a little bit different -- the sky-high costs of hospital stays. The organization is building a device that will send infants back home quicker, and will help keep them close to their mothers. They are also working on different devices to treat conditions like hypothermia, hypoxia, etc. Vivek recounts how at every event and competitions where he and his team speak about NeoLight, several mothers come to him, shake his hand, and tell him that he is actually solving a real problem. And that acts as a motivational diving force for the team. Born and raised in Chennai, Vivek completed school from DAV and went on to study Electronics and Telecom engineering at Meenakshi Sundararajan Engineering College.He went to the US in 2013 to pursue a business degree at Arizona State University where he then ideated the concept for jaundice treatment.

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