It is a classic image: a critically ill patient in a hospital bed connected to various medical devices by wires and IV tubing for monitoring and treatment. These devices are attached to the wall beside the bed and wired into the hospital infrastructure. While this is certainly still a real and necessary role for medical devices, the needs have expanded to include many other locations, roles in patient care, types of devices and connections to patients and devices.
The dramatic changes in rupee value affect the billion dollar medical equipment industry. While it proves beneficiary to some it is a bane to many. Let us find out its impact on the current scenario.
The healthcare market in India is estimated to be worth $ 40 billion with the medical equipment industry contributing $ 2.5 billion that is 6 per cent of the total. While the healthcare sector grows at 11-12 per cent annually the medical equipment market is growing at 15 per cent annually. In 2011,India was the forth largest market for medical equipment and is expected to grow at 12-16 per cent according to a report by Pacific Bridge Medical.
Cell phones and fl ashlights operate by battery without trouble. Yet because of the limited lifespan, battery power is not a feasible option for many applications in the fields of medicine or test engineering, such as implants or probes. Researchers have now developed a process that supplies these systems with power and without the power cord.
For more than 50 years, pacemakers have set the rhythm for many hearts. The engineering of microelectronic implants has since advanced by leaps and bounds: they have become ever-smaller and more technologically sophisticated. The trend is moving toward miniaturized, intelligent systems that will take over therapeutic and diagnostic functions. For example, in the future implantable sensors will measure glucose levels, blood pressure or the oxygen saturation of tumorous tissue, transmitting patient data via telemetry. Meanwhile, medication dosing systems and infusion pumps will be able to deliver a targeted release of pharmaceutical substances in the body, alleviating side effects in the process.
Researchers say they’re designing patch-like devices to wirelessly transmit information about a person’s vital health statistics, potentially freeing patients from the wires and sticky electrodes of electroencephalograms (EEGs) and electrocardiogram (EKGs).
The devices, currently envisioned to be more like a temporary tattoo than a medical patch, could conceivably measure heart activity and brain waves, said John Rogers, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who spoke about the new research at a conference this week.
“The big benefit would be the ability to continuously monitor health and wellness,” Rogers said. “There’s a lot of interest in personalized medicine and the quantified self, and hardware is key.”
The Android-based Swasthya Slate can capture ECG data at 1,000 Hz and is reportedly capable of providing enough information to make clinical judgements.
Using the tablet PC to read/ edit documents, surf the Web, take snaps and watch movies is passe. Imagine a tablet that can monitor your ECG, measure heart rate, besides offering various other medical facilities. This imagination has been turned into reality by Kanav Kahol, a US-returned Indian biomedical engineer.
(Health Tablet), created by Kahol and aimed at medical utility, is being dubbed as the first-of-its kind diagnostic tool. The tablet can record body temperature, conduct ECG, test blood sugar and blood pressure, measure heart rate and also test quality of water.
It’s hard to find a better example of how technology is revolutionizing patient care than the tiny edible sensor Proteus Biomedical of Redwood City plans to begin selling this fall in the United Kingdom.
When the grain-of-sand-size sensor is integrated into a drug tablet or capsule and activated by stomach fluid, it signals when the medicine was taken to a patch on the patient’s body. Then the patch relays the information along with the person’s heart rate and other medical details to a caregiver’s phone — all without a visit to the doctor.
Cell phones and fl ashlights operate by battery without trouble. Yet because of the limited lifespan,