Bangladesh scientist has breakthrough in burn injury dressing

SALEEM SAMAD



Photo: Medical scientist Dr Azam Ali celebrates the Bayer Innovation of the Year Award in 2010 award with his colleagues

A BANGLADESH born agro-scientist has invented a bio-based wound dressing, which cures severe wound 40 percent faster than any other conventional medicine currently available on the market.

Dr Azam Ali, who lives in New Zealand has brought good news for the people with severe wound and similar physical injury from acid attack and fire incident.

Ali has invented bio-based materials to create new wound dressing, bone-graft implant products and medical suture technology using wool from New Zealand sheep. He uses low-volume protein sources from the wool to wound dressing and medical devices.

He told the state-run news agency BSS that the new wound dressing dramatically brings down the treatment time while the result is far better than any other existing treatment process as the bio-based wound dressing accelerates wound healing process and tissue growth.

Ali a senior scientist with the AgResearch, a leading research station in New Zealand, believes the new products will have better purpose in treating the acid victims and the people with severe burn injury.

He, however, said the treatment would be costlier than the existing synthetic products, but it would heal the wounds of the acid and burn victims to the extent so they can get back to normal life.

He pointed out that Bangladesh can use shrimp shell instead of wool to produce the same products with similar quality and effectiveness.

'There is lot of shrimp shells available at the industry where shrimp are being processed regularly for either export or domestic use," he quipped.

The scientist sees very bright prospect of using the new product in Bangladesh because of availability of natural raw materials.

Two of his wound-care medical products are now being used at New Zealand hospitals and are approved for use in Australia, United States and the European Union.

The breakthrough innovation of the Bangladeshi scientist won the globally reputed Bayer Innovation of the Year Award in 2010. [ENDS]

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com