The inaugural session was addressed by Dr. V K Singh, Managing Director, InnovatioCuris Pvt. Ltd., who set the tone for the conference by raising the genuine questions as how one can create healthcare delivery at optimum costs. He emphasized on working with grassroot innovators. In his speech, he also warned the young innovators to trust the technology only up to a limit.

Our guest of honor, Lt General (Dr.) Rajesh Pant, National Cyber Security Coordinator,Prime Minister’s Office, Government of India, in his special address quoted Mark Twain’s quote, “Gutenberg’s invention created heaven, and along with it a new hell”. He related this saying by how it applies equally to technology. As the technology has given us new horizons and ways to live, it has alongside created problems too.

Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF India Representative in her introductory address, gave a brief overview on the how unmet needs, especially in health sector become the mother of innovations and how technology can be a solution to address those innovations. She insisted on the use of scalable technology as to how it can be made accessible to millions of people. Referring to this, she talked about the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. The world has resolved to leave no one behind in fighting extreme poverty and preventable child deaths.

Mr. Karnal Singh, Ex-Enforcement Director, India raised during his speech Narayana Murthy’s concern that there have been no recent innovations from India. “Are we so bad?” He said we would have to think differently for finding solutions. The education which we receive in our country is more competitive than collaborative.There are many unmet needs in health sector, for example, for majority of injections, cold chain is not maintained. It’s been a long time that we could have insulin tablets rather having the existing insulin injections. India, prominently being an agricultural land faces a major unmet need of water requirement, which is only 50% against the 80% requirement. He acknowledged that 2010-2020 has been the decade of innovations for India. To everybody’s pride, the ranking of India in the global innovation index has improved by five places to 52nd in 2019 from 57th position last year.

Sachin Gaur, Director Operations, InnovatioCuris, took the opportunity to drive everybody’s attention towards the trust deficit which persists in medical community and equity of stakeholders. He insisted on developing a common language within the medical fraternity to which Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a probable answer.

The forum manifested remarkable heterogeneity with its speakers from various realms across the globe. The second session on “Innovations for hospitals and insurance companies” was very interestingly structured as a free-style discussion.

Mr. Mohan Krishnan introduced the discussion with a brief presentation on the global trends in healthcare and their affordability. He particularly emphasized on access to healthcare resources and quantity shortage in India. He highlighted how lifestyle associated diseases have taken over the communicable diseases. He discussed the key trends in supply dynamics, their relationship to healthcare sector, and the challenges and opportunities for their future implementation. The functional and central aspect of this session was majorly about healthcare which is accessible and affordable to the masses. Other key points that emerged during the session are outlined as:

• switching of communicable to non-communicable lifestyle associated diseases
• lack of medical care in rural areas
• Ayushman Bharat Yojana or Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana or National Health Protection Scheme: one of the largest and promising healthcare initiatives which aims to address healthcare holistically
• patient feedback must be a pre-requisite while thinking of the innovations which can fulfill the unmet needs
• biggest challenge in healthcare is information symmetry
• one of the most remarkable point that came up was that the healthcare provider should be “paid to prevent”, and not paid to cure
• 5 P’s should be prioritized: People, Plant (equipment in hospitals), Processes, Premises, Patient care

This enlightening session focused on four most important factors, viz., better health outcome, better patient experience, better staff experience and better costs.

The tone of the next session on “Innovations in medical devices and diagnostics” was set by majority of doctors. The diagnostics could be done by the help of paramedics or people other than doctors and then they could be replaced by automated systems or AI. There are schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, which give accessibility to each one. The innovations could be patient centric, healthcare centric or in terms of sustainability. The focus was on trends impacting medical devices and diagnostics, for example, lab-on-chip, wearable health monitoring devices, AI, 3D printing, etc.

The tone of the next session on “Innovations in medical devices and diagnostics” was set by the majority of doctors. The diagnostics could be done by the help of paramedics or people other than doctors and then they could be replaced by automated systems or AI. There are schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, which give accessibility to each one. The innovations could be patient-centric, healthcare centric or in terms of sustainability. The focus was on trends impacting medical devices and diagnostics, for example.

The brainstorming session provided meaningful insights into the remedies which innovations can bring to the unmet needs in healthcare. Prime Minister’s health and wellness program were much talked about. Challenges in the not-much-explored area of management of blood banks were discussed. The lack of a centralized system of blood banking is a major concern.

The role of medical robotics, which is a type of disruptive technology, is very fascinating. The thought of switching from open surgery to key-hole-surgery to no-hole surgery is in fact very intruding. Another major concern across the globe is diabetes and how the diabetologists across the nation are ignorant in not examining the feet of their diabetic patients as 30% of the diabetics suffer from severe foot diseases. There are ample cases of diabetic amputation, which must raise an alarm within the diabetologists.e lab-on-chip, wearable health monitoring devices, AI, 3D printing, etc.

The fourth session was a very inspirational one wherein the dais had seven women innovators, each one unique in their own fields. As Prime Minister Modi once said, “The progress of humanity is incomplete without the empowerment of women.
”InnovateHER gave a common platform to few wonderful women where they shared their stories of inspiration, falls, and experience. This session was indeed a beautiful stretch of one hour where these women from varied backgrounds and aspirations showcased their expertise and their words gave hope, path and motivation to everybody present in the auditorium. They were an epitome of women empowerment and proved it greatly “Komal Hai Kamzor Nahi Tu, Shakti Ka Naam Hi Naari Hai, Jag Ko Jeevan Dene Wali, Maut Bhi Tujhse Haari Hai”.

Ms. Shriya Sethi, presented detailed statistical data on women entrepreneurs, about emerging trends in healthcare innovations, the existing lacunae and the current scenario of general well-being of people.

Ms. Priya Prakash, Founder & CEO, HealthSetGo, was one of the youngest innovators, who herself realized at a very tender age, the importance of good health. This drove her to initiate her existing foundation, which focuses on the wellness of children. “If the kids are healthy in the first place, the coming young generation would be disease-free”, was her take on the evolution of her organization.

Another eminent panelist Ms. Preeti Rao, Founder & CEO, Weljii, inspired everybody around to focus on being healthy. Instead of talking about the illness, she emphasized more on how people must take care of their wellness which includes both physical and mental health.

Ms. Veena Sehgal, a pharmacist and entrepreneur mentioned the gap in the availability of medicines which the doctor prescribes. They are most of the times available on area-specific basis which makes it difficult and time consuming for the patients. There should be an emphasis on generic medicines, rather than brands.

Amidst such tech gathering which had brought together so many thought leaders and experts alike; we had between us few young innovators. These innovators with their priceless ideas and vision delivered their pitches to make their candidature remarkable in its unique way.

The candidates included Priya Prakash (HealthSetGo), Yogesh M (Hybrid effluent water system technology), Saiprasad Poyarekar (spray-on skin tissue), Ashish Sharma (Drip monitoring system) and Vijay Kumar Kumawat (Microporous implants). With their unique set of products/services, the candidates made it difficult for the jury to decide on the winners. Saiprasad with his technological advancement of spray-on skin tissues to get rid of minor-to-severe burns grabbed him the award for best innovator pitch. He was followed by Vijay Kumar, as 1st runner-up and Priya Prakash as 2nd runner-up.

The next session was a special one dedicated to diabetes, one of the most worrisome chronic diseases across the globe. The speakers talked about how to monitor, control and manage the disease.

Dr. Arjun Dang, CEO, Dr. Dangs Lab, who was chairing the session referred India as the “diabetic capital of the world”, referring to the alarming scenario of the affected Indians wherein around 16 million Indians are affected with Type 2 diabetes, and this number is expected to rise to more than 100 million in the next ten years. He also insisted not to commoditize healthcare, rather consider it as a service which requires a lot of compassion and empathy.

One very relevant question that came up was that “Why Indians are most prone to diabetes?”. Probably it is because of the harmful oils and highly processed foods available in the Indian markets. Stress is a huge component in diabetes management. Exercise and breath-management (pranayama, etc.) have a major impact on diabetes management. One of the major contributors of diabetes is non-nutritional food. Sleep which is often understated has a direct impact on blood sugar level which increases due to lack of proper sleep. Diabetic patients can improve only to fall back again into the same pit and destroy their health, hence it is of utmost importance to rescue them.

Among the highlights of the next session, “India Global Collaboration in Health Sector: Start-up Opportunities and Challenges” were the long-term Australia-India collaboration goals in the field of Science and Technology. To seek the answer to the question, “What can India offer to countries in the panel and what do the countries have to offer for India?”, let’s read next.

Dr. Jukka Holappa, Commercial Counselor, Country Manager India at Business Finland, shared the current status of healthcare in Finland. He spoke about the excellent condition of R&D in Finland, among which ten large companies are Indian.

Dr. Shiban Ganju, shared that he has come to India because India is “where all the action is happening right now”. He talked about traditional medicines in India, differential pricing of products across various countries. The innovators must focus on “frugal innovation”, for providing the best of healthcare.

Ms. Sharda Balaji, a lawyer by profession highlighted the importance of mobile penetration which is the largest in the world in India. There have been tectonic shifts happening in technology. She discussed how India is all about affordability and value consciousness. The concept of “jugaad” or making things doable work well in India. This is where a lawyer is needed to license the product(s). The major challenge she mentioned in India is lack of connectivity with deep science and research across geographical locations within the country due to its enormous size.

Much was talked on the existence and emergence of the digital health in the intriguing session on “Digital Health: Giving Birth to New Delivery Models through Mobile, IoT, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence”.

Mr. Jacky Ovadia, General Manager, IDEA (International Innovation & Business Development expert), Israel shared with the audience his viewpoint on advancement in telemedicine. There must be portable medicine devices which can effectively check pulse and nerves very easily. He mentioned about remote monitoring for ultrasound, pregnancy, pulse checking, and clinically approved digital urinalysis. He said that a concept which uses GPS to monitor patients’ activities and habits can have varied impact on people’s lives.

Way forward

With such inspirational, informative and interactive sessions, the two-day conference came to an end, raising too many new questions and challenges that may impact healthcare, especially in India. It also gave answers to many existing issues through the numerous innovations that were presented. The generic thought which probably each one had was on the affordability and accessibility of good healthcare. If the innovations are not scalable, easily accessible and cost-effective to the masses, they cannot persist for long.

Of utmost importance were the views on how AI can save lives, and the importance of end-to-end affordable healthcare. IoT can connect to anyone, anytime, anywhere in rural and urban areas where reach is low, and how AI helps in diagnosis and innovation. Early intervention can resolve health problems and there is a huge scope in the use of the apps which can enable timely and real time intervention. With highly potential schemes like Ayushman Bharat, we can create value chain in affordable and accessible healthcare for everyone.

The healthcare sector sees immense opportunities with the innovations happening across the globe. Innovation pitches from global and Indian companies that were conducted wherein organizations from various sectors came forward to present their portfolio of services and products.

Innovators and researchers are working on various aspects wherein they can target various chronic as well as lifestyle associated diseases. For example, the Nano 4 TB kit helps detect TB easily. There are various state-of-art laboratories across the nation which are deployed and use high-end technology, for example next generation sequencing is used to perform operations to detect aneuploidy or any kind of anomaly which is responsible for spontaneous miscarriages and mental retardation in live born babies. In the light of technology, innovation and healthcare, we must look at technology with a business view; how technologies work in society, sustainability of the model with traditional delivery, and about new models in healthcare.

Read past InnoHEALTH conference press release:
InnoHEALTH 2017
InnoHEALTH 2018
Also Read: Press Release: The International Medical Travel Show Dubai 2020

About the author

Dr. Jasmeet Chhabra is a Doctorate in Immunology and whenever she gets free time from the full-time job she loves to read and write about imperative issues in healthcare.

Take for instance Life In Control and Wellthy Therapeutics. These digital platforms connect patients with doctors and coaches and provide personalized care in terms of diet and exercise plan. Users can create long-term health goals, follow-up daily tasks and keep tabs on their health profile including HbA1C and glucose levels, track medicines intake and understand how their daily routine affect these measures. These start-ups also give doctors the flexibility of reaching out to patients outside their clinical hours as well as to create and coach them on their personalized care plans. In the language of numbers, Life In Control has over 100 doctors on the platform and appears to have helped over a lakh patient with their app. Wellthy Therapeutics took the approach of a pilot program with diabetic patients and claims to have helped reduce both HbA1C levels by a little over 1% and an average weight reduction of 3.4 kgs over 16 weeks. It also got an endorsement by Asia’s largest diabetes association, Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India. Both the apps are available for download on Android and iOS platforms.

Adding to the growing list of startups are those that detect blood glucose and connect directly to your smartphone. BioSense SYNC, for instance, is a compact Glucometer with Bluetooth connectivity to a user’s phone. It provides a detailed analysis of blood sugar data collected over a number of days. Similar to other diabetes management apps, a user can map their glucose data with their eating and exercising habits. Taking these interventions a step further, the start-up BeatO not only provides a smartphone Glucometer but also a range of diabetic friendly food products to munch upon. Patients can order medicines, sync their fitness devices and count calories on food items consumed. As of today, BeatO has served more than 25000 customers with a daily user add-on of 75-100. Most of these diabetes management apps can instantly connect a patient to a diabetic coach in case the sugar levels are off, and alert the patient’s family as well on concerning trends.

Complimenting these health management gurus, patients are also likely to benefit if there were devices providing at home diagnosis for diabetic complications, such as neuropathy, kidney malfunction or diabetic retinopathy. Scintiglo by Cutting Edge Medical Devices, Anupath by PathShodh and Sparsha by Yostra Labs have created Point of Care (PoC) tests to detect the first two complications. Scintiglo is a small handheld device that detects urinary proteins (should be trace levels in a healthy individual) at a low cost with remarkable accuracy and connects to a smartphone through a custom app. Anupath uses unique test strips for detection of specific biomarkers of diabetes, while also eliminating the need of usual sample preparation that one sees in clinics. Patients can get a comprehensive reading of their plasma and urine protein levels, HbA1c levels blood glucose and hemoglobin. While Sparsha, as the name suggests, focuses on touch-based tests that can diagnose diabetic peripheral neuropathy and send reports via users’ smartphone. Funded by the Department of Biotechnology grant (BIRAC), these start-ups focus on low-cost solutions, so an average user can save money on constant check-ups. Low costs also allow these start-ups to cater to rural segments of India, where a healthcare worker can refer patients to tertiary hospitals based on initial reports by these devices.

The complication of retinopathy, as mentioned above, relates to the slowly progressive disease of the eye and is one of the leading causes of blindness in diabetic patients. This segment is addressed by start-ups like ChironX and Artelus that use artificial intelligence to detect or monitor diabetic retinopathy risks from retinal image scans. Both the start-ups have achieved high accuracy of detection (over 95%) while the technology of AI confers an easy benefit of scanning retinas at a much faster speed to doctors and hospitals. Artelus also boasts to have saved over 3900 eyes so far from diabetic complications.

Given the burden of diabetes in every aspect of life (behavioral, physiological and financial), being handheld into recovery could be motivating for many patients. For maximum impact, we need to reach the furthest demographic corners of India, as diabetes has a growing prevalence in all sectors of the country. Infact, why wait for diabetes to knock at your door? One can also mitigate pre-diabetic conditions or reduce the chances of developing diabetes later in life. These start-ups aim to provide that ecosystem, where a patient can be led into an improved, healthy lifestyle at minimal costs. And just as it is heartening to see the growing awareness of Indians towards their health, it is equally imperative that these solutions are also as democratic as possible. Importantly in a booming start-up scenario, maintaining data integrity, complete transparency between doctors, patients and companies as well as strict adherence to ethical standards would go a long way in ensuring patient trust in this system.

About the author

Urvashi (Raheja) Bhattacharyya is a Biomedical Science graduate from Delhi University and a Ph.D. from National Centre for Biological Sciences. When not running behind her toddler, she spends time reading stuff about the brain, AI, ML, and latest innovations. Writing keeps her calm.

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InnoHEALTH Magazine | Volume 4 Issue 1 | Innovation in Diabetes – Unmet Needs
Highlights

• Exclusive interview of H.E Klas Molin, Ambassador of Sweden to India on “Sweden-India collaboration in the health sector”
• Digital healthcare
• DISHA: Need of the hour. How crucial is DISHA (Act) for the healthcare industry?

Diabetes, the plague of this generation, needs qualified support for patients to eliminate fear and preventable sufferings. Tele Health Help Desk offers precisely that solution- Patient relationship management that acts as a single point of contact for patients and their caretakers and provides a dedicated helpline to diabetes patients, ensuring that a hospital or Pharma Company’s brand value augments its reputation in the process. Innovation is the cornerstone of competitive advantage, and we are excited to change the old approach. Will you be a forerunner?

Diabetes is a modern day dragon that is threatening to affect a big section of the masses of the present century. The numbers are stunning beyond belief: Nearly 50 million suffer from the deadly lifestyle disease. Average cost of treatment of each diabetic patient is approximately Rs. 6000 a year, as per IDF Atlas, 2014. And this cost does not include any cost associated with more serious complications like diabetes foot, kidney and eye disease due to diabetes.

With the huge number of diabetes patients- 50 million or 5 crores- the combined colossal amount makes a big dent in any country’s economy, fragile as it is due to continuous recession around the globe.

Besides expenditure, there is a big shortage of trained workforce at all levels, especially the lowest and middle rung of the society. According to recent studies, underprivileged sections of society in urban ghettos are particularly vulnerable, if not more than as much as the rising classes.

The lack of specialized human resources is proving a major deterrent in fighting the monster and preventing major losses like diabetic nephropathy, cardiac complications and diabetic retinopathy.

Picture the scenario outside a health facility, endocrinologists are struggling to muddle through the thronging flock of patients. The benches outside the room are all crammed to capacity, the cacophony increasing with each passing minute. Waiting is never supposed to give any kind of pleasure; it is always a compromise of the poor. Challenge is defined thus. Even a willing and able doctor will be exasperated with so much to do in so little time.

So, how can the healthcare system meet this need?

First and foremost, technology should be used to offer prevention as well as treatment of diabetes. The age old adage of cure being an after-thought should be the primary motive for preferring prevention as its go-to strategy.

Experienced and well equipped tele-health companies can play a critical role by collaborating with medical institutions and the government for proactive tele health solutions that would minimize hospital visits as well as create an empathetic environment for patients to come back to, via the telephone of course!

There are a few organizations that specialize in the sphere of empathy calls and history tracking. Their tele health division is well respected for employing state of the art software that helps in tracking every single detail of all the patients and in the same time helps in issuing alerts and emergencies regarding patients.

The positive message of the services—helping patients adapt to daily life without too many restraints —is the key to success.

If we have a senior citizen diabetic whose blood sugar shot up to 300, because she couldn’t resist her grandson’s birthday cake, empathy urges us to accept what has occurred, and respond, “What’s life without celebrations and a little piece of cake!”

Bringing patients within your desired goalposts by teaching them to build their diet around a family event is more realistic than preaching the more stern and unwelcoming, “Never eat dessert.”

The challenge before hospitals is to develop a centralized function to act as the single point of contact for the end-users (patients) who require assistance for resolution of problems, concerns, question and requests. The need of the hour is a Dedicated Empathetic Helpdesk for Hospitals that would help your facility build a strong bond and a stronger brand with your customers – Patients and Prospects- before and after they are in your premises. Such improved communications, based on a predictive marketing model, result in building and sustaining trust in your facility, a crucial task in the healthcare business.

Our tele health help desk has made significant positive changes by improving customer satisfaction and exceeding performance targets. One of our clients has authorized us to disclose their figures:

1. Operational Savings of Rs. 22 lakh annually.
2. Patient retention has increased by a sizeable 8%.
3. Higher level of customer satisfaction.

It’s going to be increasingly important for you to know what’s happening when patients leave your facility.

A handful of futuristic companies, led by charismatic pioneers are engaged in providing helpdesk services to medical institutions that act as the preferred medium of interaction between them and their patients. An explainer video presentation that describes tele health services and benefits thereof can open your mind to exciting new possibilities of retaining patients and providing care for them better than ever before. You can also watch the video directly on YouTube at the URL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c57rTr-l64

The process of proactive patient relationship management is still in a nascent stage in India. Change is beckoning you, the risk-taker and innovator. Today is a good day to do that, no?

Want to write for InnoHEALTH? send us your article at  magazine@innovatiocuris.com

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Innovation has hit the healthcare sector – national and international – big time! Revolutionary technologies have refreshed the concept of medication and treatment. Enlisted are few of the healthcare innovations in India and abroad, to show what a long way we have come!

Healthcare is one of the largest and progressive sectors worldwide. Health innovation has always been there but it is only recently that it has caught the attention of all the stakeholders. the growth of science and technology is affecting and enhancing the growth of health innovation too. Latest developments in the IT field have facilitated and accelerated this process. If you just glance over the latest scenario, it becomes very evident that health innovation efforts are being made in every area of healthcare and every part of the world. The same technologies that revolutionized the commerce, transportation and finance industries are now bearing down on the $3 trillion healthcare industry, promising to simultaneously improve care delivered while reducing cost. The scope of revolutionary technologies includes diagnostics and monitoring, wearable devices, tele-health, medical modeling, smart devices, data management, tracking and delivery and much more.

Recent Indian innovations
HealthEnablr raises $800K in seed funding
Bamasish Paul, CEO and co-founder, HealthEnablr
Founded in September 2015

Healthcare startup HealthEnablr India Pvt Ltd has raised $800,000 (around Rs 5.4 crores) in seed funding from a group of unnamed professionals, including some prominent investors from Silicon Valley and Hong Kong. The new capital will be used to develop the company’s patented EMR technology and consolidate sales efforts.

The startup connects patients and physicians via video, telephonic conversations and messages, besides offering doctor discovery services. Currently operating in Mumbai and Kolkata, HealthEnablr aims to have a network of over 50,000 verified doctors by the end of 2016. It offers products and services through its mobile and web application, and has plans to expand into a healthcare marketplace, enabling patients to choose and buy healthcare packages from HealthEnablr as well as its growing network of affiliate partners.

Medikoe ties-up with Manipal to launch In-App SOS Feature for Emergency Medical Services

Sreevalsan Menon, Founder and CEO, Medikoe
Launched in October 2015

Medikoe was brought into existence by ex-IBM colleagues Sreevalsan Menon and Raman Shukla, as a disrupter in the online healthcare space. The non-availability of prescribed medicines online, lack of information on healthcare services in different cities and lack of access to verified and specialized home care treatment faced in daily life convinced them to introduce this novel platform. Medikoe, the first online medical platform to provide value-added offers on 360-degree Healthcare & Wellness products and services on a single platform, has joined hands with “Manipal Ambulance Response Service” (MARS) along with technology partner Helpzone Technologies to initiate emergency care treatment in Bangalore. The new SOS feature on Medikoe’s app allows the customer to alert 5 people about the medical emergency including the geo-location, as well as get automatically directed to the first level emergency consultation by Manipal Doctors. If need be, they can also get access to an ambulance rushed to the emergency location as fast as possible. At Manipal Health Enterprises, by joining hands with a holistic platform like Medikoe, we will be able to provide total monitored emergency medical assistance during any crisis situation.

Capitalizing on Medikoe’s wide reach, Manipal will also be able to help the patients and the community at large, save precious lives during the ‘golden hour’.

“Helpzone Technologies has piloted a brand-new concept of ’Titanium Seconds’ with Manipal Hospitals Bangalore, with the primary objective of enabling consumers’ quick access to credible medical emergency assistance within a few seconds of raising an alert. With the Medikoe partnership, we hope that a larger number of citizens can make use of the service,” says Deepa Jeetu, co-founder of Helpzone Technologies.

Cognizant’s new digital healthcare platform, Health TranZform

Cognizant, a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, announced the development of a new digital healthcare platform, Cognizant Health TranZform. Developed with technology from Orion Health, this new digital platform will help consumers make more informed decisions about the cost and quality of their care, while simultaneously enabling healthcare providers and payers to drive greater levels of consumer engagement and operational efficiency. With the healthcare industry shifting from fee-for-service to value-based care, traditional healthcare organizations are increasingly transforming their business models to deliver consumer-centric care. The Health TranZform platform will serve as a cloud-based industry utility, enabling different healthcare stakeholders to easily interact with each other and consumers across the care continuum. By creating a secure platform, data from multiple systems, including payer data from Cognizant’s TriZetto payer core administration platforms, data from physician practice management systems and other healthcare ecosystem platforms can be integrated with electronic health records (EHR), to provide an improved customer experience and drive new solutions.

Cognizant is working with leading global partners like Orion Health to integrate capabilities into the Cognizant Health TranZform platform that will give healthcare organizations a cost-effective, seamless way to provide a differentiated, high-value, customer-centric experience.

Attune Technologies
Ramakrishanan Venkataraman, Co-Founder and COO

Healthcare in India is constantly evolving and many organizations are adopting best global practices that can enhance the quality of healthcare delivery in India. Technology is at the core of what Attune does. They are constantly upgrading their technology and innovating new solutions to make healthcare affordable, seamless and efficient for the entire healthcare value chain.

Attune Technologies, an Innovative healthcare IT product company, was recently recognized the “SiliconIndia Company of the Year 2015 for Healthcare IT” by SiliconIndia. The award was in recognition of Attune Technology’s innovative product offerings and services in the healthcare category. Attune has been making its journey at a rapid pace spreading its operations to 14 countries in a period of only 6 years. Attune Technologies currently offers cloud-based solutions to over 200 hospitals, laboratories, and clinics in India and worldwide and manages more than 10 million patient records. The platform provides hospitals, labs, and clinics with integrated services like management of patient data, scheduling and billing, and workflow on the cloud.

SigTuple Raises Seed Funding from Flipkart, Accel Partners

Tathagato Rai Dastidar, Rohit Kumar Pandey and Apurv Anand, FoundersFounded in 2015

A Bengaluru-based medical technology startup has risen seed funding from Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal, VC firm Accel Partners and other angel investors. Other investors who invested in the round include Nirupa Bareja (former Biocon executive), Ashok Bareja (former India head of the now-defunct National Semiconductor), and Debanjan Mukherjee (Amazon Lab126 executive).

The startup builds intelligent solutions for medical diagnosis using state-of-the-art machine learning techniques. It develops products for automated analysis of medical images and data to aid diagnosis. The company has built a technology-powered product called Shonit, which comprises a microscope, a mobile phone app and a cloud-powered engine for analysis and reporting. It automatically analyses images of blood captured through a microscope as well as detect various diseases like anemia, malaria, leukemia and other diseases.

Portea Medical Invests in Health Tech Startup PSTakeCare

Pratik Chinchole, Co-Founder & CEO of PSTakeCare

Portea Medical, Indian home healthcare company has picked up majority stake in health-tech startup, PSTakeCare, the platform of which connects key stakeholders in the healthcare delivery ecosystem. Through a combination of comprehensive information, analytics and consumer feedback, PSTakeCare places decision-making power in the hands of patients. The investment in PSTakeCare follows Portea’s acquisition of pharmaceutical distributor, MedybizPharma in November 2015.

PSTakeCare’s technology equips healthcare consumers with relevant knowledge on doctors, hospitals and other healthcare service providers, enabling them to take healthcare decisions based on factors such as insurance coverage provided, procedure-specific feedback and room-wise costs. The platform also presents actual photographs of medical facilities and will use advanced analytics and consumer feedback to provide comprehensive information to the patients. PSTakeCare intends to become the first port-of-call for patients seeking information on doctors, hospitals and labs for any medical procedure. Going forward, we will continue to focus on building disruptive products and services in healthcare, solving key patient needs through innovation. Presently the company is operational in Mumbai.

Diabetes management through start-up Diabetacare

Indian medical start-up Diabetacare which has used innovative digital technology to revolutionize diabetes management in India through mobile interface and to its credit the company has been nominated for the internationally acclaimed ‘Global Mobile Awards 2016’. Diabetacare was shortlisted under the category ‘Best mobile innovation’ for “The internet of things” at the prestigious platform.

Diabetacare has offered a unique 24×7 care support platform that automatically takes care of all aspects of diabetes care – from screening, intervention to monitoring. Reducing the requirement of patient travelling to different sources for blood tests, reports and consultation, Diabetacare has unified all aspects of diabetes management under one platform. The system has set up a 24×7 monitoring service through a set of leading-edge devices that allows a patient to be connected to a centralized monitoring system.

Diabetacare also owns a unique connected new generation ‘glucometer’ that transmits glucose readings to their secured database to be updated in the patients’ personalized electronic medical record (EMR) system.

Diabetacart: A small, portable kit that allows their diabetes specialist nurses to screen patients for diabetes at home or in the clinic. Diagnostic components include a retinal camera for diabetic retinopathy screening, a 12 lead ECG for assessing cardiovascular risk, a vascular Doppler for blood pressure, dynamic foot pressure mapping capability, and much more.

InTouch App: This helps the physician manage and monitor patients that require extra care and attention. The app is compatible with both iOS and Android devices, including tablets, ’phablets’, and smartphones.

dCare Smart: This is a connected “smart” glucometer. Results are transmitted within 30 seconds to the EMR system. It is powered by Vodafone GSM SIM and connected to secured award winning M2M platform.

DxNET: This is a comprehensive EMR system that helps in clinical decision making (CDM) by providing prompts and reminders to the experts and their patients for better quality care.

InMobi & Noora Health

Efforts of two Bangalore-based start-ups InMobi and Noora Health also definitely need to be mentioned here. According to Fast Company, a U.S.-based business magazine that focuses on technology, business and design, InMobi and Noora Health were the only two Indian companies to make it to the list of Top 50 Innovative Companies, ranking 15th and 45th respectively. Noora Health is a lesser-known Indian company, ranked 45th for improving the lives of surgery patients in India. The non-profit organization graduated from the start-up incubator Y Combinator in 2014, and trains doctors and nurses in local hospitals all over India to train groups of family members on basic care like checking the pulse, supervising patient care for those recovering from a surgery or even a lifestyle disease like diabetes. Noora uses an iPad app and offers videos, quizzes, and interactive content to impart this training for at-home recovery, while working to reduce hospital readmission rates.

Digital Magic Wand

Then a ‘digital magic wand’ has been developed to improve healthcare and cybersecurity in which researchers have developed a hardware device to improve home healthcare and to prevent hackers from stealing your personal data. But these new technologies, whether in the form of software for smartphones or specialized wearable / portable devices also pose risks if they’re not designed or configured with security and privacy in mind. So one of the main challenges is that most people do not know how to set up and maintain a secure network in their home, which can lead to compromised or stolen data. It may also potentially allow hackers to access critical devices such as heart rate monitors or dialysis machines.

Wanda

In the new Dartmouth-based project, the researchers developed ‘Wanda’, a small hardware device that has two antennas separated by one-half wavelength and uses radio strength as a communication channel. The clever solution makes it easy for people to add a new device to the Wi-Fi network of their home (or clinic): They simply pull the wand from a USB port on the Wi-Fi access point, carry it close to the new device and point it at the device. Within a few seconds, the wand securely beams the secret Wi-Fi network information to the device. The same method can be used to transfer any information from the wand to the new device without anyone nearby capturing the secrets or tampering with the information. “People love this new approach to connecting devices to Wi-Fi,” says Tim Pierson from Dartmouth College.

“We anticipate our ‘Wanda’ technology being useful in a wide variety of applications, not just healthcare, and for a wide range of device management tasks, not just Wi-Fi network configuration,” Kotz said. The findings will be presented at the IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications in San Francisco in April.

ICHR – a digital platform for children

The children’s health records will now be made available at the click of a button. India’s first ever digital platform, Integrated Child Health Record (ICHR), to keep children’s health records, has been launched recently. Supported by cloud computing and mobile technology, ICHR is a revolutionary product to map a child’s health and track vaccination. ICHR is supported by a first-of-its-kind mobile application to address pressing concern of parents willing to track their child’s growth and vaccination. The mobile interface will be available for both android and iOS users. ICHR provides and automates long-term surveillance of a child’s growth. It has other benefits too, like; it will also help in early detection of obesity and malnutrition in urban and rural population respectively. It also addresses the dire need of maintaining the data centrally for research purposes. Once fully implemented, ICHR will become a potent tool in providing authentic region-specific data for analyzing and identifying probable reasons and solutions for both child vaccination and growth related issues. This application is all about empowering parents regarding their children’s vaccination and growth. This application removes the manual vaccination cards and makes the experience paperless and traceable from any part of the world. This is the only app available in India to track the growth of premature babies, whether they are in the hospital or discharged from there, till the age of 5. (The only app, which continues from Fenton chart to the WHO chart). , It is a HIPAA compliant cloud-based solution, with a secure technology, which can be easily linked to hospital’s HIS/EMR system via HL7 or integration adaptors. There is no physical software installation needed to start using iCHR. Being on Amazon cloud, doctors can access real time patient information, regarding growth and vaccination, from any part of the world using Internet.

3D bio-printed liver tissues

The 3D bio-printing market is one of the fastest growing areas in 3D printing right now and in this light, a Bangalore-based bio-tech startup Pandorum Technologies has successfully developed artificial 3D bio-printed liver tissues that mimic human liver functions, enabling affordable medical research for developing new life-saving medicines and vaccines, and eventually leading to full-scale, transplantable 3D printed organs. The breakthrough makes Pandorum the first Indian firm to develop 3D bio-printed liver tissues, and represents a major step forward in the on-demand manufacturing of 3D printed human organs.

In addition, the company noted that it was able to keep the artificial liver cells alive for as long as four weeks. The companies are in a race to develop functional human tissues, skin, vascular systems, and eventually entire organs. Quite recently, we have seen a few major breakthroughs, including 3D printed ‘living’ blood vessels that can deliver nutrients and self-assemble just as in the human body; and the first 3D printed thyroid gland used in a successful transplant operation on a mouse.

Liver toxicity and drug metabolism are the key hurdles and contributors to failed human trials so Pandorum’s 3D bio-printed mini-livers that mimic the human liver will serve as test platforms for discovery and development of drugs with better efficacy, less side-effects and at lower costs.

This is a significant milestone, indeed!
Healthcare Innovations Abroad

Singaporean startup Healint for tracking migraine

Singaporean startup Healint has built a platform and an app, Migraine Buddy, to give patients an easy-to-use interface to monitor all their symptoms and related information, like intensity, triggers, medications and other lifestyle factors. Recently, Healint built a sleep-detection algorithm into Migraine Buddy. It automatically tracks users’ snooze time and correlates that and other behaviors with data about when migraines occur, to predict attacks better. Eventually, Healint hopes to be able to track and report flare-ups for conditions like asthma, epilepsy and spinal stenosis.

A video game headset to help children with ADHD focus

Licensing technology developed by researchers at the Institute for Infocomm Research in Singapore, Boston-based Company Atentiv hopes to strengthen focus in adolescents through a video game experience. The company’s first product set to launch this year, measures brain activity through a headband and sends that information back to a computer via Bluetooth. This Singaporean technology is able to hone in on mental activity related to attention rather than memory, making it unique compared to other brain-reading games. The child’s attention level, which is displayed on the screen, determines how quickly their character moves in the corresponding computer game. Initial studies of the technology in Singapore, conducted after eight weeks of game play, revealed a 40% decrease in symptoms like impulsivity and inattention in children with mild to moderate ADHD.

Miscellaneous

India, Canada comes together to begin research on portable diagnostics & analyzers.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the IC-IMPACTS Centres of Excellence (IC-IMPACTS) of Canada (The DBT IC-IMPACTS) partnership has been designed to strengthen existing innovation collaborations between researchers working in India and Canada and to stimulate entrepreneurial deployment of research outcomes into community contexts. The main objectives of this partnership between DBT and IC-IMPACTS are:

a. To showcase Canadian and Indian research and industrial innovation to each nation and accelerate the transfer of knowledge and technologies;

b. To develop innovation and knowledge transfer skills through the training of graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral students participating in research projects and through extended skill development activities focused on research excellence, entrepreneurial training, and commercialization expertise, thus producing the next generation of research innovators who can realize their discoveries; and

c. To strengthen overall research and innovation relationships between Canada and India and extend Canadian and Indian innovation leadership.

The DBT’s initiative in this regard is of great importance as there is a need for portable assays, which bring the high quality diagnostics associated with a central lab to the patient. This DBTIC-IMPACTS joint research program will focus on automated assays, which can multiplex tests for a range of diseases into a simple portable test. Tests should be based on easily collected sample types such as a finger stick of blood, saliva or urine.

This program will particularly support technologies, which can lead to miniature, portable, and cartridge based diagnostics and analyzers using bodily fluids such as blood, saliva or urine.

In particular portable, field deployable devices and technologies which can perform a complete blood count; differentiate between viral and bacterial infection; provide portable detection system for dengue, HIV, hepatitis, malaria and TB; aid in the detection of systemic disease; monitor the nutritional state of a patient (vitamin D, ferritin etc); require low sample volume for application in infant health care; bring together multiple disciplines for innovative results.

Dassault Systèmes and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) sign an agreement on deploying hands on virtual collaborative platform for clinical research It is a Next Generation Scientific Innovation with the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform and Strategic Collaboration to Advance Programs in Aging, Cancer, Genomics and Microbiota. Inserm will use Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform to conduct its strategic biomedical research programs in the areas of aging, cancer, genomics and microbiota. The platform provides Inserm with an integrated virtual environment for open collaborative research, unified laboratory management and biological and chemical modeling and simulation from Dassault Systèmes’ flagship brand dedicated to scientific excellence, BIOVIA. In turn, Dassault Systèmes will leverage big data from Inserm’s research programs to calibrate and validate scientific models that can be applied to future technologies for the clinical research domain. These models will enable the company to develop next-generation industry solution experiences, targeting clinical trials, to accelerate decision-making and to enable earlier efficacy and safety demonstration with virtual trials. Inserm leads in long-term, competitive scientific programs in human health and medicine and the Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform will help Inserm support collaboration, project management, data, resources, traceability and other processes. Bernard Charlès, President & CEO, Dassault Systèmes said, “This fusion of advanced clinical research and the virtual world is a stepping stone to the future of precision medicine and brings us closer to harmonizing product, nature and life.”

Then there was BIOTRONIK, world’s leading cardio and endovascular technology maker which, recently in India, introduced its latest and most advanced Home Monitoring Technology for patients with implanted cardiac devices such as pacemakers, implantable defibrillators (ICDs) and heart failure devices.

BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring® is an Internet based remote monitoring technology that enables physicians to continuously and reliably monitor their patients’ clinical and device status anytime, anywhere, and minimize risk of any negative medical event. The device launched is named the CardioMessenger® which is about the size of a smartphone and is highly robust, more convenient and remarkably portable, as compared to the previous versions of the device. Having the pacemaker wearers constantly connected to their physician, this home monitoring technology enhances safety for the cardiac device patients. The device provides fully automatic transmission of vital information from a patient’s cardiac implant to their physician. . Data is transmitted from the patient’s implant to the CardioMessenger®’s transmitter device, which uses T-Mobile and its partners’ networks (GPRS) to send data to the BIOTRONIK Service Centre, from where the data is sent to the physician. Home Monitoring has helped in the following ways:

a. Doctors worldwide can keep a very close look at their patients’ implanted devices and their cardiac activity.

b. It has helped reduced mortality, episodes of hospitalizations and inappropriate shocks and immensely helped improve the quality of life of patients.

c. It helps use of the full potential of the device that preserves battery life.

d. It has also helped reduce routine clinic follow up, which can be a burden to patients and extra workload for physicians.

e. The physicians get a closer look at trends in different patients. Over a period of time, doctors tend to understand each patient and tailor treatment and advice according to their needs and optimize device function.

f. BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring® is the only remote monitoring system worldwide with US FDA and European CE approval to replace conventional in-office follow ups and provide early detection of clinically relevant cardiac events.

g. It is the only system with fully automated data transmission. No patient interaction is needed, leading to the highest possible patient compliance.

h. Physicians can define the events they wish to be notified about via email, SMS or fax and view the events in order of importance.

i. Regular data recording allows significant trend analysis, help physicians understand patients’ condition and adjust their treatments accordingly.

j. The process also allows better scheduling of follow-up appointments which may be skipped if not needed.

Digital technology has drastically changed the way we live, and its impact on healthcare is also profoundly visible today. The Indian government’s special emphasis on Digital India shows how IT and digitalization is inextricably linked to development. Digitalization is bringing revolutionary changes to healthcare delivery across the world, including use of telemedicine to reach out to patients in remote areas and make diagnosis results quicker.

In the field of eye care Bausch & Lomb, a global health and wellness company, entered into a partnership with Bosch India, to market the latter’s innovative digital Fundus camera. This is a compact retina camera, with special software that can detect conditions such as cataract at an early stage. Digital Fundus eye

camera operates on a rechargeable battery, thus making it lightweight and portable. The findings from the Fundus eye camera can be shared over tele-medicine using the MediBilder software. The automated detection algorithm can detect and mark conditions like diabetic retinopathy or glaucoma. These features allow for comprehensive eye screening at primary level and ensure better point of care services. In addition, the modularity of the device allows wider coverage of diseases apart from that of the retina.

Be it India or abroad, innovation in the healthcare sector is here to make a mark in the lives of millions. The only thing needed here is a little technological awareness, and lo! You can be a smart patient!

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