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Molecular Diagnostics is
the state of the art in diagnosis of infectious
diseases. Goa based company, Molbio
Diagnostics, the Truelab Duo Real Time
quantitative
micro-PCR
system has completely decentralized & democratized
access to PCR technology right to the
point-of-care, at all levels of healthcare.
ICMR recommends TruNAT as a replacement
to smear microscopy for diagnosis of TB
and Rifampicin resistance under the RNTCP
algorithm. Also, just a change of cartridge,
TruNAT is good to go for a big list of
infectious diseases. It is needless to mention
that during the pandemic how beneficial it has
been for RT-PCR based Covid 19
testing especially in
remote areas.
Besides RT-PCR based
diagnostic, genomic sequencing is also
entering the point of care diagnostics. Recently,
a portable genome sequencing lab has been
installed by CSIR in a tie-up with
healthcare firm SpiceHealth at the Delhi
Airport to trace and contain mutant strains of
the corona virus found in passengers arriving from
foreign countries. Dr Anurag Agrawal, CSIR-IGIB
Director said: “Affordable and widespread point
of care sequencing is one of the most
important new trends in next age diagnostics.
Here, we plan to use it to help in better
monitoring and managing the SARS CoV2
pandemic but this is just a beginning towards its
many potential clinical and public health
applications.” This is a complete game changer in
genomics, sequencing carried out within few
hours and without any sophisticated genomic lab
infrastructure & multiple skilled
Personnel.
Monitoring
Bengaluru based start-up Janitri
Innovations has
developed
portable, wearable, non- invasive
cardiotocography (CTG) device named Keyur
that can monitor the heart rate of the mother &
the baby in the mother’s womb, duration of labour,
blood pressure and track uterine contractions of
pregnant woman. The mother wears the device, and
the data is transmitted to a mobile application
through a software, called Daksh, comes
preinstalled in a tablet attached to a stand. |
Bengaluru
based Acculi Labs, has designed Lyfas
– is a Digital Biomarker/diagnostic/prognostic
personalized remote tool developed based on the
principle of photoplethysmography (PPG). It
is a complete non - invasive preventive &
predictive digital health test & therapy, analyses
MOBILE (Mind, Organ, Body, illness
lifestyle & Emotions) just from a three minute’s
test from mobile. Lyfas uses Mixed
Intelligence, a combinatory framework of
Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and
Human Intelligence. Another product, Lyfas
Vasculograph (Mini ECG), an award winning, can
be used to obtain 12 lead ECG
signal, Pulse wave velocity. Another
product, Manotatvi designed for women’s
emotional health to analyse specific deep pains &
patterns affecting the female health, including
PCOS, irregular periods, PMS etc.
Bengaluru based
company’s product, Dozee is the pioneer in
contactless,
continuous remote patient monitoring (RPM)
in hospitals & at home, delivering unparallel
patient safety & maximize utilization of ICU
beds. Just place sensor sheet under the mattress,
connect to internet & monitor remotely using web
dashboard & mobile. It can monitor heart rate &
variability, respiration rate, BP, CPM, Sleep
Stages, restlessness, DEWS score, Apnea-hypopnea
Index etc. The company has tied up with more
than ten hospitals and healthcare institutes,
including NIMHANS, Jayadeva Hospital and
Ministry of Ayush among others.
To conclude, if a grid of such
testing options (POCT/wearables etc.) is
conglomerated with grid of telemedicine to
create a digital platform in future, it can
definitely improvise healthcare services for many
under-privileged populations especially in tier
2 & tier 3 cities of India, while
making a real difference in people’s life. Many
healthcare start-up & scale-up companies
either developing or have launched innovative
digital health platform that can advance
sustainability of the healthcare eco¬-system.
That’s why, in recent times, POC testing
and/or diagnostics market is gaining
significant growth for prominent as well as
emerging product manufacturers. The
technological advancements in POC
devices, rising incidence of infectious
diseases and investors interest remains
the key drivers. Indian Government’s
initiatives & support to create medical device
manufacturing ecosystem for the scientists,
researchers, innovators, technocrats,
entrepreneurs, start-ups & scaleups, would
surely be a great booster. |
