Recycled pacemakers from the U.S. to be donated to poor nations

Recycled pacemakers from the U.S. to be donated to poor nations

There is good news for people from developing countries who cannot afford to buy pacemakers. An agency from the United States has announced it can donate recycled pacemakers from the decreased owners to those who don't have the means to buy any heart devices from developing countries. There are about 1-2 million people annually who die because they have limited or no access at all to a pacemaker.

Pacemaker is a device implanted in the heart that uses electrical pulses to bring back the normal heart beat. According to statistics given by morticians in Illinois and Michigan, many pacemakers can still be donated from the decreased owner and it will be such a waste to throw them away. Many pacemakers in the United States are just thrown away once their owners have already died.

Although there are a few small percentage donated to charities and distributed to developing nations. Donated pacemakers do not only save lives but can improve as well the poor patients' quality of life. In India, a new pacemaker is priced between $2200 to $6000 not including other fees related to the proper functioning of the device and also hospital and doctor fees. A study has already been conducted suggesting it’s safe and viable.

Posted by James Fried on Friday October 28 2011, 2:00 AM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0