S. Vishnu Sharma
IIT Guwahati alumni-led start-up, M/s Primary Healthtech Pvt. Ltd. has developed an indigenous point-of-care-testing (POCT) device, MobilabTM, that is expected to test 25 parameters in blood to diagnose early the chronic diseases related to kidney, liver, heart, and pancreas malfunctions.
Primary Healthtech Pvt. Ltd is incubated at the Research Park and the Centre for Nanotechnology in IIT Guwahati campus, with extensive R&D, translational, and regulatory support from SWASTHA Centre for Excellence of MeitY, ICMR-DHR Centre of Excellence and BIRAC-DBT.
Its team of 30 engineers and researchers aims to make diagnostics frugal, portable, affordable, and accessible. The device is operated through an IoT-enabled Android app and can perform about 150 tests with a single charge of the battery, which enables a digitally connected ecosystem for its use even for the remotest locations of the nation and serves the last-mile population.
The device
The device is expected to perform the early screening of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), which contribute to around 41 million (74%) of deaths globally, as per the recent reports of the World Health Organization (WHO).
One of the main reasons for such occurrences has been the lack of regular testing facilities at the patient’s site for NCD alongside the unhealthy lifestyles in the low-resource setting.
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MobilabTM will enable testing at patients’ sites at a low cost to enable early screening as well as long-term disease management at an affordable cost for millions of people every year, say sources from IIT Guwahati.
Parameters
At this stage, there are 11 parameters that have been validated in NABL accredited and Government labs in comparison to Gold standard Siemens Dimension RxL and J&J Vitros 5600 Integrated System, say sources from IIT Guwahati.
Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation – CDSCO has licenced manufacturing of MobilabTM which includes:
➢ Heart Profile – Cholesterol, LDL, HDL and Triglycerides
➢ Liver Profile – Total Bilirubin, Albumin and Total Protein
➢ Kidney Profile – Creatinine, Glucose and Uric Acid
➢ Hematology – Haemoglobin
➢ Diabetic – Glucose
The device generates real-time data in 10 minutes, followed by a digital report, along with an electronic health record of the patient which can be easily shared with the doctors, say sources from IIT Guwahati.
Some of the key features of the device are:
➢ Lightweight, portable, and battery-operated
➢ Accuracy at par with the gold-standards
➢ User-friendly IOT enabled android app enabled with AI algorithms
➢ Inbuilt temperature control
➢ Real-time error detection system
➢ Instant digital report
➢ Multilingual
Various levels
MobilabTM is validated at various levels in hospitals such as Guwahati Medical College & Hospital – GMCH, Guwahati Neurological Research Centre – GNRC, Nemcare, Army Hospital, AIIMS New Delhi, and has been deployed in various parts of Assam, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat, Delhi, and Arunachal Pradesh, say sources from IIT Guwahati.
MobilabTM has been supported by the Centre for Nanotechnology, IIT Guwahati; Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Govt of India.
It is also supported by ICMR-Department of Health Research Centre of Excellence, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, SIIC-IIT Kanpur, AIC-CCMB, KIIT-TBI, CPS- IITI, DBT-BIRAC, IIT Guwahati and Start-Up India.
The mass production of MobilabTM has been planned by establishing a vendor network at a cost that is affordable and at the same time sustainable, say sources from IIT Guwahati.
Vision
Speaking about MobilabTM, Mr. Sahil Jagnani, Alumnus, IIT Guwahati, and Founder & CEO, Primary Healthtech, said, “The vision of MobilabTM is to make diagnosis available to fellow citizens at an affordable cost, along with generating instant results to speed up the early screening, disease management, and treatment.
MobilabTM is also expected to perform import substitution under the Make-in-India initiative of the Government of India, said alumnus of IIT Guwahati.
Certifications
MobilabTM has received various certifications on national and international platforms such as the National Start-Up Award 2022; ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485:2016; CDSCO License; EMI/EMC certification; Performance Validation Certificate from GNRC North Guwahati Hospital and GMCH. Along with this, the startup has seven patents to its credit while developing the device.
Primary Healthtech is an IIT Guwahati Alumni-led startup founded by Sahil Jagnani, Department of Chemical Engineering, a graduate of 2013; Ankit Chowdhury, Department of Design, a graduate of 2019.