Innovative Product of the Month

ReMeDi® Tele-Medicine Solution

Neurosynaptic  Communications , a Bangalore based company, has indigenously developed a low-cost ReMeDi™ Medical Data Acquisition Unit and Software, todeliver primary health services to rural, remote populations through Telemedicine. It is always observed that access to basic healthcare is a daunting challenge in rural India. Over 70% of the country’s population lives in villages, yet 80% doctors, 75% dispensaries and 60% hospitals are in urban areas. About 70-80% private practitioners are semi- or unqualified and absentee rate at government rural clinics is ~40%. For rural population, healthcare is 1.5 times costlier. Quality healthcare is sought very late in the disease cycle, resulting in high mortality & morbidity besides huge expenses. Clearly, there is a huge demand-supply gap for the rural health services, where quality care is most needed. ReMeDi® Tele-Medicine Solution offers solution to this which can measure basic physiological parameters like patient’s ECG, Temp, BP, HR & oxygen saturation, as well as real-time transmission of heart and lung sounds through electronic stethoscope probe and provide vital information about the patient to a doctor for preliminary diagnosis. The medical device uses only 2W of power. The solution also includes video conferencing between doctors and patients which can work at a bandwidth of as low as 32 Kbps. A preliminary diagnosis of cardio-vascular problems can be carried out using stethoscope, ECG and blood pressure measurement. With images, taken using a normal web camera, doctors can provide eye care, dermatology and ENT services.

While the ReMeDi™ technology is designed to work with extremely low bandwidths by compressing video, audio and data information, this works on all kinds of Internet based connectivity. The ReMeDi™ technology is built in a way that a person with – typically a high school graduate - can operate it with minimal training. Training processes are also considered a part of technology itself. Certain benefits of the system are early detection of ailments, high quality branded healthcare, very much cost effective as per consult cost Rs 30 to 50, close proximity distance of the telemedicine  centre and nearly 75 % of walk in patients taken care of with tele-consultation.A combination of such appropriate technologies that require lower dependency on skilled personnel and bridge the access gap in rural  areas is surely a significant innovative product.