Hand-Held Device Diagnoses Anemia - Fusion - WeRIndia

Technology keeps bring us new devices every day. One such device has been made by Biosense, a Mumbai-based medical technology organization. The device they developed is a non-invasive anemia screening tool called ToucHB. It is useful in diagnosing Anemia in a simple and painless fashion.

The device measure the hemoglobin levels in the patient’s blood without extracting blood or pricking the patient with a needle.

ToucHB use the principle of quantifying conjunctival pallor. The device is small enough to be held in hands and it is battery-operated. It is also gives readings instantly.

The device works by placing it on the right eye and pulling the lower eyelid. It takes an image and analyses the image to quantify the conjunctival pallor. It finds out the paleness of the skin and mucous membranes. Paleness occurs due to reduced amount of oxy-hemoglobin in the blood.

The device is aimed to helping health workers who hold camps or clinics in remote villages. It is hard to get access to expensive machines to diagnose diseases. This device is simple to operate and can be carried anywhere easily.

The device can also be linked to a smartphone via Bluetooth. In this way, the data can be directly stored, mailed or messaged to the patients.

Biosense was set up in 2008 by Myshkin Ingawale and his friend Dr. Abhishek Sen. They aimed at creating affordable healthcare to all. Myshkin is an engineer with a Ph.D. degree in Management Information Systems from IIM-Calcutta. Dr. Abhishek has degree in biomedical engineering from IIT Bombay.

They started the organization after they witnessed an incident in Parole, a city near Mumbai. At that time, Abhishek was interning there at the time. He saw a pregnant woman and her child lose their lives because of post-partum hemorrhage cause by anemia. After that, they worked on ToucHB and successfully launched it.

Image Reference: TheBetterIndia