Portable sterilizer makes surgery safer for millions

Eniware LLC’s portable sterilizer makes surgery accessible and safe for communities without reliable sources of water and electricity.

Most current sterilization methods require high temperatures and pressures, making them particularly costly to the poorest communities, leaving billions of citizens without the care they need. Eniware LLC’s portable sterilizer is lightweight, safe, and quick, and only needs a capsule of room-temperature nitrogen dioxide to fully sterilize surgical instruments without using water or electricity.

Eniware’s sterilizer is a 25L case with carrying handle. Health teams open the case, insert the instruments needing sterilization, pop in the small capsule containing the nitrogen dioxide gas (NO2) and run the sterilization cycle. When the cycle is complete, the NO2 is absorbed by a small pellet scrubber that can be disposed of with regular waste.

By using NO2, Eniware eliminates communities’ dependency on refrigeration or heating. The NO2 is safe to use on a wide variety of medical materials, including adhesives, nylon and copper, and works by damaging the DNA of any microorganisms clinging to the instruments. The sterilizers are meant to be reused many times, so after the initial investment, the only ongoing cost is for new packs of NO2 capsules.

Field clinical trials will start in Africa in June 2016, and Eniware continues to look for additional investment to scale up production and distribution. We have seen walk-in telemedicine kiosks and a portable, miniaturized emergency care unit. What other health care services could be taken out of buildings and into communities?