New Delhi: AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences)-Rishikesh, in collaboration with Navratna Defence PSU BEL (Bharat Electronics Limited), has developed a state-of-the-art health monitoring system to remotely assess the health of Coronavirus (COVID-19) suspects and patients quarantined in homes and hospitals. The solution aims to significantly reduce the risk of exposure to healthcare workers. It is also expected to reduce the increasing demand for PPE (personal protective equipment) and other logistics.
"Faced with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the need to develop a solution to remotely monitor patients for limiting exposure of healthcare workers was prime and urgent. To combat this need, AIIMS-Rishikesh and BEL came together to provide a comprehensive digital and clinically appropriate solution," BEL said in a press release on Thursday. Based on the inputs given by AIIMS-Rishikesh, BEL developed the proof of concept (PoC) model of a system integrating non-invasive health monitoring sensors to measure critical parameters such as temperature, pulse rate, SPO2 (saturated oxygen level) and respiration rate. BEL, which has expertise in network-centric and IoT systems, has also networked these sensors for remotely monitoring critical parameters.
A mobile app and a web browser have been developed for people to get enrolled with AIIMS-Rishikesh once they show symptoms of COVID-19. AIIMS-Rishikesh will study patient complaints and based on the assessment by clinical experts, a health monitoring kit will be handed over to the patient for periodical monitoring of the critical parameters.
Patient health parameters, along with patient location, are uploaded on a regular basis on to a centralised command and control centre (CCC) on a cloud, using either the patient's mobile phone or integral GSM-SIM. The use of cloud will facilitate seamless scaling of the database of Coronavirus (COVID-19) suspects and patients.
The software will give out alerts in the form of messages to medical officers and healthcare workers when the health parameters exceed the threshold. It will also record the severity of the patient's condition in different colour codes.
Data analytics software of the CCC will also graphically map the geo-distribution of COVID-19 suspects/patients in the state. This would help the hospital administration in visualising the hot spots and taking necessary action to isolate and cordon off these areas to check the spread of the virus.
In separate news, CSIR (Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research) has said that it has partnered with BEL to scale up the production of hand-held Digital IR Thermometer and oxygen enrichment unit (OEU), both of which have been developed by its National Chemical Laboratory in Pune. "The digital IR thermometer is an important component of measures to mitigate Coronavirus outbreak. Mobile phone or power banks can be used as a power source. The design of IR thermometers is available open source where in the complete know-how with mass manufacturing ready hardware and software design will be available to manufacturers across India for free," a press release said.
"Oxygen enrichment unit (OEUs), which increase(s) the oxygen concentration from the ambient air of 21-22 percent to 38-40 percent, have been developed by CSIR-NCL and Genrich Membranes, a start-up innovation venture founded by Dr. Ulhas Kharul, Head of Polymer Science & Engineering Divsion at NCL. OEU is hollow fiber membrane bundles for separation and filtration of ambient air to produce enriched oxygen for patients in home and hospital settings," the release added.