Welcome to the Emergency Auto Transfusion Set. Main features include:Rapid recovery of blood from internal haemorrhage. Simple to use. It can be totally manually operated.Closed system, No risk of infection transmission.Cost effective; Main container can be reused after sterilization. Only filters and tubing lines are discarded after use. DEVELOPING COUNTRY INITIATIVE HIV-AIDS CONTROL PROGRAM GLOBAL BLOOD SAFETY PROGRAM Problem to be Addressed: The Present Situation In Nigeria, as in most developing countries, there are no organised blood Transfusion services that can cater for emergency situations. Transfusion services are not effective. Victims of Road Traffic Accident and those with aneurysmal ruptures and ectopic pregnancies often die from bleeding internally into the peritoneal cavity. About 250,000 of blood requirements in Nigeria is needed to assist victims of Road Traffic Accident and women with ruptured ectopic gestation. Victims of Road Traffic Accident and Ectopic Gestation on reaching the hospital are examined and diagnostic steps are taken to confirm internal bleeding. Once this is positive, the relations are requested to donate blood or where they cannot, they proceed to buy blood from the laboratories. Such blood may be contaminated with malaria parasites, Hepatitis B virus, Syphilis and the much dreaded AIDS Virus. Over 98% of patients with internal bleeding who require blood for survival do so from blood donated by other people. Blood is not usually available early enough and often the patient dies. About 60% of these would benefit from blood recycling. The absence of this, therefore accounts for the loss of lives of those who could have survived from recycling their own blood. Government has in a number of ways encouraged blood donations through campaigns and setting up of blood banks. However, many of the blood donors in Nigeria escape being tested for the AIDS virus through dubious professional practices that is rampart in the third world being a 40 to 200 fold increase observed from 0.02% in 1986 to 4.1% in a screening centre in 1999. Transfusion can play a major role in the spread of the disease which trend can partly be checked by autologous transfusion practices using the EAT-SET devices since the patient's own blood is the safest blood. There are currently no devices for blood recycling in this part of the world, and the cost of conducting research into an appropriate device and subsequent development for use in hospitals was borne by the UNDP with WHO as executing agency. In a broader sense of our technological need, the then President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (in a message sent on 18 July 1990 to the All-Purpose Committee on Engineering infrastructure) called for innovations to develop appropriate application and adaptation of foreign technology in Nigeria to enhance self-reliance. SUPPORT THE EATSET & CONTROL AIDS THROUGH BLOOD TRANSFORMATION   Expected End of Project Situation A.( i ) The difficulty associated with blood procurement and the delays resulting from          this will be minimised. ( ii ) The fear of acquiring AIDS and other blood borne infection will be eliminated since        the Patient receives his own blood. ( iii ) The mortality figure and morbidity figure for patients who require blood recycling         would be drastically reduced. B. The use of donor blood will be greatly reduced and the need to screen such blood will not be necessary in situations where the patient's blood can be recycled. C. At the end of the EATSET project, the basis for an emergency auto-transfusion service would have been initiated. The EATSET which would be introduced will alleviate the organisational problems since the unit is self contained and does not require the linkage of various health units in a medical setting. D. The social religious and cultural constraints to blood transfusion are also by-passed by the EATSET since the patient receives his own blood. The fear of acquiring AIDS virus and other infection through blood transfusion would have been abated. Target Beneficiaries The project would benefit all trauma and accident victims, pregnant women with ectopic gestations and patients with congenital aneurysms all of whom may suffer internal bleeding. Thus the general populations stands to benefit. In addition, a.) The level of medical manufacturing in Nigeria is low presently. This has led to (equipment) dumping of inferior medical devices and lack of technical backup for imported ones. b.) Nigeria will acquire the technological know how to produce basic medical tools since the ultimate objective of the EATSET project is to provide appropriate technology for medical manufacturing and prevent equipment dumping in Nigeria. EATSET Nigeria Ltd. as been setup to promote the industrial phase of the project.

Brigadier General Dr Oviemo Ovadje started the EASET project in 1989 with a meagre sum of N 18,000 Eighteen thousand Naira ($120)


The main organizations that have been behind the success of Eat-Set are the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Federal Government of Nigeria. The World Health Organization acted as an executing agency in the developmental phase of the device.

Right from the inception of the project the UNDP and the Federal Government provided support for research, development and testing of the technology.

The UNDP & Government assisted securing the patent trade marks and intellectual rights of the inventor.

The Federal Government has provided an environment conducive for a project of immense importance as this to grow. Financial assistance has been provided in many ways by the Federal Government and various workshops to facilitate awareness in this area of health have been organized. Click here for more information about the History of Eat-Set and the Federal Government involvement. The project however needs more support to fulfill its objective of providing appropriate devices for developing countries.

Fss MSS DSS PJSC MBBS DA FMCA FWACS MON NOPM OFR

Chief Consultant Anaesthetist & Intensive Care Therapist
Military Hospital
LAGOS
Tel / Fax : +  234 - 1 - 2622837
Email: ovadje@excite.com  |  ovadje@rediffmail.com

Ovadje CV

Brigadier General Dr. Otu Oviemo Ovadje, born 20 December 1954 is a Medical Doctor in the Nigerian Army and a Chief consultant anaesthesiologist and intensive care physician who works at the Military Hospital, Ikoyi-Lagos. Trained at both the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. He is a Fellow Medical College of Anaesthesiology, Fellow West African College of Surgion member Association of Military Surgion of the Federal Republic of Austria and Life member of the Association of Military Surgion of the United States (AMSUS) and has attended numerous courses and conferences internationally.

Brigadier General Dr. Ovadje was declared the Best African Scientist in 1995 before African Heads of States when he won the World Intellectual Property Organisation and Organisation of African Unity Gold Medal for scientific work designed to save women who usually die from abnormal pregnancy (ECTOPIC GESTATION). He also won Promex Silver Medal in Geneva in April 1998. He is a two time winner of the Chief of Army Staff Award of the Nigerian Army for professional excellence, and various non medical awards. Recently elected into the membership of the Association of Military Surgeons of the Federal Republic of Austria.

Brigadier General Dr. Ovadje was Chief of Delegation -Nigeria, to the World Congress of Military Medicine at various times. Dr. Ovadje has delivered lectures in United States of America, Germany; China; Zimbabwe, Austria and Lesotho- South Africa. He is a member of the Technical Working Committee of the International Congress of Military Medicine. 

Brigadier General Dr Oviemo Ovadje in 1989, solved the problem of blood salvage from body cavities by pioneering and creating a design the EATSET to replace and improve on the gauze filtration technique as practiced in developing countries. The EATSET device has been described as a low cost and an appropriate technology relevant to the needs of developing countries. Its development is part of the global effort at ensuring blood safety. The device is made up of a transparent rigid capsule, incorporating a V – shaped micro – filter and its part arrangements allow its adaptation to a manual source of low vacuum.

Brigadier General Dr Oviemo Ovadje, as a medical doctor undergoing specialist training in Nigeria, observed that a lot of women during pregnancy in developing countries die from internal haemorrhage (bleeding) arising from ruptured ectopic pregnancy. 

Autotransfusion

Autotransfusion is an established technique for the collection and subsequent reinfusion of the patient's own blood. It not only prevents transmission of diseases but also avoids immunological complications of homologous transfusion. Autotransfusion permits greater flexibility in the use of blood bank supply.

Advantages of Transfusion
Rapid availability of blood. Does not require any 
blood storage facilities. No risk of disease transmission. No incompatibility of product transfused. No risk of alloimmunization. Conserves blood banks supply.
System Description
EAT - SET is a system for recovering blood from internal bleeding. Its primary application is for patients with internal haemorrhage. Such blood can be safely reinfused if processed within the first 24 hours after haemorrhage. Blood is aspirated through a multiple filtering unit into a collection container and is reinfused by gravity to the patient after a filtration process.

The main features of the EATSET are as follows: Rapid recovery of blood from internal haemorrhage. Simple to use: Can be totally manually operated. Closed system: No risk of infection transmission. Cost effective: Disposable except manual
    pumping unit.