Chennai :
The National Hub for Healthcare Instrumentation Development (NHHID) funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has developed a portable ‘antibiogram’ device that will help doctors determine whether a specific antibiotic will be suitable for a patient at a nominal cost of Rs 20-30. DST had allocated Rs 70 lakh in the past three years for this project and once commercialised, the manufacturing cost of one device will be around Rs 10,000.
Since doctors in India have used the same group of antibiotics for years, disease-causing agents have developed resistance to antibiotics, turning the treatment ineffective. A study was conducted by NHHID in 400 government and private hospitals across the state to study antibiotic resistance patterns. The study suggests that penicillin-related antibiotics generally have very little effect on bacteria causing urinary tract infections.
Researchers from NHHID Centre in Anna University say this device will enable doctors view lab results on their mobile phones, tablets or laptops to chart out an effective antibiotic treatment for a patient.
According to S Muttan, the head of Electronics and Communication department at Anna University who is involved with the NHHID project, all that the doctor needs to do is to place samples of biological fluid (blood, urine, saliva, eye and ear discharge), and the antibiotics mixed with biochemicals in the vial trays. Around 8 to 10 samples of antibiotics can be tested simultaneously. The antiobiogram kit will determine whether an antibiotic will help the patient fight the bacteria or not within four to seven hours.
Researchers from NHHID say that the resulting images are processed and sent to the doctor’s mobile, tab or system connected to the viewfinder of the device. This will be of great help to rural healthcare professionals as it is portable and battery-charged, K Sankaran, Coordinator of NHHID, told Express.
Sankaran said that doctors in Tamil Nadu, particularly in rural areas, are concerned about what antibiotics can be prescribed for effective treatment. Based on an idea proposed by NHHID for an antibiogram, the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, came up with a prototype which was later developed into a portable gadget by the NHHID, he added.
Unlike current methods which consumes two to three days to produce a 70 perc ent accurate result, this antibiogram produced 93.9 per cent accurate results in less than four-seven hours. It costs around Rs 10 to perform a test in NHHID laboratory setup, where as the same test using conventional methods would cost around Rs 300-Rs 1000 in private labs.
Chennai-based Trivion Healthcare is looking to sign a MoU with NHHID to get the rights and market it. GSK Velu, founder of the company said that it need not only be used for urinary tract infections, but also for several other diseases including dengue, malaria, tuberculosis, common fever.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Ram M Sundaram / ENS / September 28th, 2015