CHICAGO — Fifty incupouches are packed and ready to be shipped to Gaza after incubators were turned off in the region — an invention that can save Gazan babies.

In 2006, Prasanga Lokuge, the vice president of the VillageMD of Clinical Strategy, designed an ‘incupouch’ for pre-term and low-weight babies as a skin-to-skin, low cost and non-electric solution to incubators.

In a matter of weeks, dozens of volunteers across the country from Village MD have sewed the pouch, replicating it with stretchy fabric and removable insulation. Volunteers also made knit hats.

Lokuge is using the idea she came up with over a decade ago, to help babies in Gaza.

“When we moved to Chicago, it sat in our basement for a while, but I’ve been thinking about going back to it. When I heard about incubators and electricity getting turned off in Gaza, immediately I felt — ‘what if,'” Lokuge said.

The whole initiative came together in a matter of weeks, and the 50 incupoucnhe kits were packed Thursday.

VillageMD is working to get the kits to Gazan families in need with the help of the Catholic Medical Mission Board.