MedinnMedinn · Medical Repair Café
MedTech Malabar
Dr. Sidharth Narayanan with TinkerHub makers and a ResMed device at the Repair Café

18 October 2026 · Government Medical College, Kozhikode

India's first medical Repair Café.

Medical students, engineers and makers opened up condemned hospital devices on one bench, and brought five of them back.

Led by Medinnwith IEDC GMC Kozhikode and TinkerSpace Calicut

See what happenedRead the report (PDF)

The day

One bench. Two disciplines. Devices back to life.

Devices that had been condemned or left idle at Government Medical College, Kozhikode, were brought to TinkerSpace's bench. Clinicians explained how they are used and how they fail; engineers and makers opened them up, diagnosed and repaired.

5devices repaired
6devices opened and studied
4disciplines on one bench
Patient monitor revivedNebuliser fixedBP cuff glued backNIV filters cleanedVentilator deconstructed & documentedPulse-ox sensor studied
On the bench with TinkerHub makers
On the bench with TinkerHub makers and a ResMed device.

Built together by

Medical studentsCS & electrical engineersTinkerHub makersiHub biomedical engineers

On the bench

Two devices, two stories.

BPL patient monitor before and after the repair

Case 01 · BPL patient monitor

Stuck on the boot screen. Back to showing vitals.

  1. It powered on, showed the brand logo, and went no further.
  2. The team suspected invisible micro-cracks in the solder joints, the kind pump vibration and cuff stress can cause over time.
  3. They applied flux, reflowed it with a hot-air rework station, and rechecked the capacitors with a multimeter.
  4. Switched back on, it booted past the logo to live vitals.
Mindray SV300 ventilator opened up, with its faults labelled

Case 02 · Mindray SV300 ventilator

Two faults found: the display and a motor in the gas-supply unit.

  1. Opened up and documented component by component.
  2. Display: fault.
  3. Gas-supply motor: fault.
  4. Along the way: a dust-laden intake filter and a hand-marked battery.

What we learned

The devices told us more than their faults.

No paper trail
Many devices had no record of maintenance contracts, servicing or routine care.
Donated, then lost
Donated devices often never get registered with the biomedical team, so they fall outside maintenance and warranty.
Care nobody taught
Basic care like filter changes is not something most healthcare workers are trained in.
Calibration
It is costly. How much of it actually happens?
“We look after our phones and computers better than the devices patients depend on.”From the Repair Café report
Read the full report

In the press

Malayala Manorama, the next morning.

Malayala Manorama article on the Repair Café, Kozhikode City, 19 October 2026

Kozhikode City · 19 October 2026 · page 4

“Medical devices, treated and repaired. When needed, the stethoscope and the spanner too.”

The report covers the medical and engineering students' collective that brought condemned devices at Government Medical College back to use, and names Dr. Sidharth Narayanan as Student Nodal Officer among those who led the day.

“Healthcare workers can offer ideas for new technology in healthcare; engineering's technical strength is what brings them into practice. Medical and engineering students working together here is a model initiative.”Dr. M. P. Sreejayan, Superintendent, Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode

Headline and quote translated from Malayalam.

What's next

From one bench to an ecosystem.

Dr. Sidharth Narayanan

Bring a Repair Café to your hospital or college.

Dr. Sidharth Narayanan, Medinn
medinnnetworking@gmail.com · LinkedIn

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