One of the predominant challenges brought along by Covid-19 pandemic is the difficulty in physically accessing the healthcare facilities. We genuinely feel the disconnect with the hospitals and it’s a disturbing feeling for everyone. But if it’s an unprecedented feeling for the urban population, the lack of healthcare inclusion has always been a predicament for the rural population of our country. Arogyam Medisoft Solution Pvt Ltd – a Kolkata based startup incubated at BioNest, SIIC, IIT Kanpur – is on mission to mitigate this drastic scenario with its keen focus on providing the rural population of India with quality & affordable IOT based telemedicine solutions. Arogyam Medisoft adopts and integrates the benefits of advancement of technology in the areas of medical, telecommunication and information. The award-winning startup even has a highly innovative, patented product under its belt called HaemurEx, which is a point of care photo analyzer. CIO Insider engages in an exclusive interview with Rajiv Mondal, the CEO and Partha Chrakraborty, Chief Scientific Officer of the company.

In conversation with Rajiv Mondal, CEO & Partha Chakraborty, Chief Scientific Officer, Arogyam Medisoft Solution Pvt Ltd

Covid-19 has changed the way we look at healthcare. The healthcare industry has a mountain to climb as far as the challenges at hand are concerned. How are you contributing towards tackling the modern day healthcare challenges?
The limitations of physical healthcare system infrastructure and supplies have worsened the whole health system scenario during Covid-19. People living in rural areas are not getting proper treatment due to the lack and cost of transportation. Digital health platforms seem to be pretty much the only solution here during this COVID-19 pandemic situation. Not only patients, even the doctors and health workers get benefited from this digital health platform by providing necessary advice without visiting the actual infected area.

In addition to this, the social distancing norm has effectively shut down the traditional face-to-face care. We have invented a tele-enabled, battery operated, point of care blood & urine analyzer – HaemurEx, in addition to a cloud-based lightweight tele-health management system, known as Arogyam Health. We endeavour to provide quality & affordable healthcare solutions to rural India by adopting and integrating the benefits of advancement of technology across medical, telecommunication and information segments.

Could you briefly tell us about the impact of HaemurEx as well as Arogyam Health?
HaemurEx is a Computer Vision & Machine Learning based Optical Analyzer that is GPS enabled and connected to the cloud. The approximately 500 grams weighing device is powered by an in-built battery. The device can test 25 clinical chemistry parameters from blood & urine related to diabetes management, liver, cardiovascular, and kidney function.

data collected by the connected devices. Till date, we have served close to 20000 patients across 20 centers in six states.

Tell us about the regulatory compliance certifications of your flagship product.
The use of HaemurEx has been cleared by CDSCO, Government of India with regulatory approved re-agents and received CE compliance certification. This patented product is validated to have 90 percent sensitivity and is HIPPA Compliant. We have initiated our journey to obtain ISO 13485 certification from CDSCO accredited notified bodies and European CE mark. We shall initiate product registration for Singapore, Australia and other south-east Asian countries after we obtain ISO 13485 & CE mark.

Could narrate a case-study pertaining to one of your recent implementations?
Our platform is being used by the Government of Arunachal Pradesh in 5, primary health sub centres & Ayushman Bharat Health & Wellness Clinic of Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh, for the past six months in a pilot initiative to provide of evidence-based tele-health service. Using hub & spoke model, ASHA professionals are managing teleconsultation, lab tests and online patient health records. Physicians locally & from leading centers across India and USA are providing treatment using Arogyam Health Terminal The aim is to provide affordable & accessible healthcare services to 150000+ indigenous population of the district.

How has your journey been so far?
We completed our pilot product and were granted CDSCO clearance in India in 2019 and it has been an inspiring journey ever since then. In 2020, during the pandemic and against all odds, we shipped our first export consignment. By the beginning of this month (April, 2021), around 20 health centers across the country including Ayushman Bharat Health & Wellness have deployed our solution.

Today, Arogyam Medisoft is supported by Dept. Of Science & Technology, Govt of India, SIIC IIT Kanpur, JSSATE STEP, BCCI (Bengal Chambers of Commerce) and has been showcased at WHO global forum of medical devices, promoting accessible and affordable healthcare. It got awarded in various forums including Bengalathon organized by Govt of West Bengal, HealthHack organized by BCCI & Medica Hospital, NASSCOM Health & Life Sciences Innovation Award and Emerge 50. It has been recently selected by the German Development Corporation (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit - GIZ) for up scaling the platform further.