IIT-Guwahati scholars develop remote digital healthcare

GUWAHATI: A team of research scholars of the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT-G) has developed a digital health system that can offer healthcare to a large population, especially in remote areas.
Mitali Basak, a 3rd year PhD student at the Centre for Nanotechnology, IIT Guwahati, and Shirsendu Mitra, former PhD scholar at the department of chemical engineering, IIT Guwahati, teamed up for the innovation at the Global Charm Health Innovation Challenge in the category ‘student innovators’.Mitra is currently an Early Career Fellow at IIT Gandhinagar.
The bench top digital setup is integrated with an algorithm to record initial screening parameters like body temperature, pulse rate, eye and tongue analysis of a patient remotely.
“A situation like Covid-19 demands human interactions to be as minimal as possible. In view of this, the current innovation can be a potential tool for healthcare management remotely, taking care of physical as well as social distancing norms,” Basak told TOI.
She further said, “The device is capable of remotely doing primary health check-up. Further, a robust algorithm along with cloud interfacing is expected to enable the device to store large volumes of health data for future benefit.”
She said once the device is commercialised, no physical presence of a doctor in the health centres would be required. “The device will automatically screen a patient and analyse the data and generate a report automatically,” she said, adding that the device would boost healthcare, especially in remote areas.
The winners of this challenge will be decided after submission of a prototype based on the proposed innovation. Basak and Mitra are working on the prototype, which is expected to be ready in the next four months. This innovation challenge includes a cash prize of $2,500 for the top two winners. Apart from this, once the winning idea is fully developed, its commercialisation will be taken forward by the organisers, California-based Charm Health and iValley.