Young innovators give low-cost healthcare solutions

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_young-innovators-give-low-cost-healthcare-solutions_1480146


The challenge was to find noble, affordable and accessible healthcare solutions to millions of rural Indians and a group of young innovatorsproved that intelligent combination of science and technology can solve looming healthcare crises.

Ten teams from top engineering institutes came together on Friday to showcase innovative ideas pertaining to rural healthcare solutions at the campus of GE John F Welch Technology Centre at the Edison Challenge 2010.

Team Deja-BHU from Institute of Technology under Benaras Hindu Universitywon the first prize for creating a concept with the help of which paucity of doctors in rural areas could be solved. The team devised an adaptive, case-based screening technique ‘virtual doctor’ to reduce load on medical staff.

Teams IWANJAU from Sri Jayachamrajendra College of Engineering, Mysore, and New Age Innovators from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, won the second and third prizes, respectively. The Employees’ Choice award was given to team Thinkers, again from IIT-Kharagpur.

While IWANJAU came up with an ‘infant warmer’, New Age Innovators created an ‘incubator’, both low-cost which could help in reducing the infant mortality rate.

Thinkers created a low-cost solution to diagnose tuberculosis with the help of a stethoscope to detect whether a person has tuberculosis by measuring the rate of his right lung.

All the innovations were given prizes worth Rs5,000.

Hundred teams across the country submitted their proposals for the Edison Challenge 2010. Ten teams made it to the finals. The finalists included five teams from IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Mumbai, Institute of Technology under BHU, two teams from Sastra University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, and Sri Jayachamrajendra College of Engineering from Mysore.

The theme of the third edition of science and engineering competition was ‘Enabling rural healthcare’. The teams were asked to provide noble technological solutions which are noble, affordable and accessible to be made available at public health centres in villages.

The winning team of the Edison Challenge 2010 received a cash prize of Rs5 lakh. Three major healthcare challenges — tuberculosis diagnosis, infant care solution and early screening for cardiovascular disease — faced by rural India were the subjects on which young technocrats tried to provide solution.

Among the criteria on which the teams were judged were innovation and novelty, feasibility of idea and customer value/commercialisation.

“I am highly impressed by the innovative solutions brought by the students here. All the participants are highly motivated,” said Dr AS Rao, director-innovations, Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), who was one of the judges at the event.

“The area of affordable and accessible rural healthcare solutions is something bothering everyone. I am happy that young students have identified the problem areas and tried to bring some innovative solutions.”

The three other judges were Dr Uday Patil, consultant radiologist, Manipal Hospital, Bangalore, Dr Mano Manoharan, general manager, GE Global Research, and Karan Verma, manager, Maternal and Infant Care, GE Healthcare.

“The Edison Challenge this year is to design an innovative technological solution to address healthcare challenges faced in rural areas. We are also looking for innovative ideas,” said Manoharan.

“We are also giving a platform for youth to look at some of the real time issues of the country and provide solution through the help of science and technology.”

Rural healthcare is a serious issue the country is facing today. Most of the rural inhabitants of the country do not have accessible and affordable healthcare solutions.

At a time when 70% of the Indian population is staying in rural areas, only 20% of medicos are working in the country’s hinterland.