Last year, Waseem Nadaf was awarded Rs 1 lakh by the Start-Up India Foundation for his innovations
Waseem Ahmad Nadaf, popularly known as 'Unique Waseem' for his knack for uncommon innovations, has developed a ventilator from scrap.
The 22-year-old, who is based in Srinagar, has developed a small-sized ventilator which he says will prove handy in providing life support to the poor and underprivileged in times of crisis.
With 32 innovations under his belt already, Mr Nadaf said that he was mulling over developing a device to battle the coronavirus pandemic since its outbreak.
"Ever since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, I was thinking of developing something like this. Solutions can come from anywhere but the most important thing is that you have to be efficient and cost-effective, because poor people living in the slums cannot afford conventional ventilators. So, I collected scrap available at home, observed it and utilised it into developing this model, which can be used as a prototype and later be modified into a ventilator. So, at the local level, where there are no ventilators, we can set it up and save lives," he said.
Mr Nadaf added, "I have used different types of scrap including, parts of a computer, a few from VCD players and some from an inverter. Moreover, as I had told my friends and relatives to give me their old and useless items. So I already have a lot of scrap with me at home. I perfectly assembled a few things and made the prototype."
At a time, when the entire world is reeling under the effects of the deadly coronavirus, Mr Nadaf's innovation is no short of a boon for patients.
He has also made a unique three-layered mask to prevent the spread of the virus. Khadi, paper and aluminium have been unusually incorporated into preparing the mask.
Mr Nadaf says he has been working on optimising waste into developing cost-effective products for years.
Waseem Ahmad Nadaf has been acknowledged and encouraged by many across India and the world for his endeavours towards making the common man's life easy.
Last year, he was awarded Rs 1 lakh by the Start-Up India Foundation for his innovations.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)