Covid-19 is making waves in the world. What started as a small localized infection in China is now a worldwide pandemic that is affecting and taking the lives of many people. During these harsh times, many have risen to the challenge of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. In Sri Lanka, at the forefront of the battle against the pandemic are the government, the tri-forces and the doctors and nurses and the rest of the medical staff. They have been fighting day and night every day to make sure that the pandemic has a minimal effect on the lives of Sri Lankans.There is another group who has risen to the challenge of fighting Covid-19. They are the innovators; they are the inventors. These individuals have been coming up with new ways to help the people of the world better combat the rising threat of the pandemic. They have overcome all the challenges in these trying times to come out on top. Dilshan Abeywardena is one such individual.
Firstly, a little introduction to Mr Dilshan Abeywardena. Mr Dilshan Abeywardena is a man of many talents. He is final year medical student at the Colombo University medical faculty, in addition to that he has already completed seven other degrees. He is also a musician, a visharada who plays many instruments. He is also an A/L chemistry tutor, who has also written books on the subject. Currently, Mr Dilshan works at several government-affiliated departments. He has many accomplishments throughout his life but right now, let’s look at why him and his work is important in the current context.
Mr Dilshan’s most recent invention is called the Mechanical Cardiopulmonary machine, or MCRP machine. This invention is invaluable during the pandemic where a distance should always be maintained between a person who is infected with the virus. What this machine does is ‘provide a mechanical cardio support to [cardiac] arrested patients with no heart functions due to Covid-19 complications.’ In other words, this machine will provide a “massage” or pressure over the chest to patients who are having cardiac complications to bring the heart rate back to a level where the patient is not at risk of dying, allowing the doctors to perform the other necessary external treatments. This device is not only important during the times of the pandemic but it can have other application as well. While there are similar machines elsewhere in the world, Mr Dilshan’s machine is much different in its function and it is registered in the local patent procedure. As of now, the final version of the MCRP machine is deemed suitable for use by the National Hospital of Sri Lanka as well as suitable for commercial manufacture.
According to Mr Dilshan, one of the biggest challenges that inventors such as himself face these days is protecting their intellectual property. With the advent of social media and other traditional media, any person’s new invention can go public before they can get the invention patented. This gives way for other people with bad intentions to steal your ideas and publish as their own. Which there have been occasions in the past where ideas and inventions have been stolen and people other than the inventor have profited from it, leaving the people in distress. Mr Dilshan’s advice for this is to develop your idea, make a working prototype and apply for a patent as soon as possible without engaging with media until all that is completed.
When speaking of advice, Mr Dilshan has a lot for any aspiring inventors. Mainly that even in Sri Lanka, there are many resources that any new inventor can make use of, resources that many people do not know about. One of the biggest resources that new inventors in Sri Lanka can use is the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission or the SLIC. They will provide all the necessary tools and the knowledge required to go bring the ideas to life, and there is also no fear of loss of the intellectual property this way, a special mention being Professor Rangika Halwathura, the head Commissioner of the SLIC who is always willing to help any inventor. There are also other institutions such as the National Research Council (NRC), University Grants Commission (UGC) for university students and the National Youth Services Council (NYSC). All these institutions will also help any inventor achieve and important second step when creating a prototype, that is getting funding. According to Mr Dilshan, it is very important to try and apply for any funding opportunities for your invention as it will be a great help moving forward. The next step is making a working prototype that can then be presented to the relevant industry for feedback and this will help in getting investors and moving forward to commercial manufacturing of the machine. With that, a final product can be made to suit the demands of the industry and with clearance from all the departments.
This may seem like a lot of steps but there are many places such as the SPIC that will help inventors throughout the entire process from idea to product. Mr Dilshan’s personal experience with this being that, his idea for the machine came to him late at night one day, he contacted the SLIC and then made a working prototype by the next day, within the third day he had already applied for the patent.
His message for any new aspiring inventor is to first focus on your studies and complete them, which gives you knowledge as well as recognition as an educated person. After which you can focus more on the ideas and inventions. And when the necessary knowledge for something is missing, always do the research and contact people or groups such as the SLIC that can help you. He also speaks of the importance of extra-curricular activities such as sports or different hobbies.
He said that the most important thing however is developing your personality and knowledge throughout your life, this will help you go far in life.
With that, a saying that he keeps close is, ‘know something about everything, and everything about something.’
Rtr. Hasitha Nilaweera
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