Your Doc Will Be Able To See Your ECG Results On His Phone

A HEART-WARMING MMS

Malathy Iyer I TNN

Mumbai: Residents of areas between Vikhroli and Chunabhatti can take heart. Any resident, at the slightest hint of chest pain, can dial a number, and a medical worker will rush to her or his home in an ambulance or a motorcycle, track the patient's electrocardiogram (ECG) and immediately send it via MMS to a cardiologist's mobile phone. Diagnosis of a heart attack has never been so "assisted'', claim the bunch of IITians and cardiologists who will unveil their 'Saving Lives' project on Republic Day.
    For the six cardiologists who will oversee the project, it is an academic challenge. "Worldwide, the door-to-balloon time (time for angioplasty) is 90 minutes after diagnosis. We aim to reduce it to 60 minutes with this technology,'' says Dr Sandip Rane from Chembur.
    Tweaking the telemedicine idea a wee bit, the IIT team, led by Dr Uday Desai of the electrical engineering department cell, has worked out a way of compressing heavy, medical diagnostic files into easyto-transfer MMS. "It's the synthesis of wireless technology, digital signal processing and biomedical engineering,'' said Dr Srikant Parikh, an ex-IBM employee who is a part of the venture. To avail of the ECG-on-an-MMS facility, families of persons experiencing chest pain only have to dial 25277000 or 25277001. "Our doctor will take the specially designed ECG machine in an ambulance or a motorbike to the patient's home,'' explained cardiologists Nitin Burkule and Rajiv Karnik. Once the ECG—a recording of the heart's electrical activity—is taken, the on-site doctor can immediately MMS to the mobile phone of the heart specialist whose location is closest to the patient. "If the reading is irregular, we will immediately convey that the patient needs to be hospitalised for a primary angioplasty or be given thrombolytic treatment immediately,'' said Dr Bhaskar Shah. The phone diagnosis will ensure earlier treatment to patient, thereby reducing the severity of damage due to any delay, said the doctors, most of whom work at Thane's Jupiter Hospital. "We plan to extend the project to Thane within three months and cover the entire city within a year,'' said Dr Rane. Incidentally, the idea for an ECG-on-MMS machine was born three years ago in Dr Desai's IIT laboratory to further the cause of social medicine. At the monthly meetings of the M u m b a i chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), he discussed the idea with his friend Srikant Parikh, who roped in another friend Dr Sunil Lakdawala, to set up A3 Remote Monitoring Technologies. "That stands for anywhere, anytime access,'' says Parikh. The engineering trio states that unlike telemedicine projects that involve huge infrastructural expenses, their technology uses cellular internet facility to transfer data. "It is not only more econ o m i c, but also done in real time unlike the present-day telemedicine services that send reports long after the patient has been put t h ro u g h the test,'' said Dr Desai. Dubbing it an altruistic effort more than a business venture, Parikh said that the idea was to take this technology to the remote parts of the country. "A worker in a village not wanting to miss his day's wages will never travel to towns for a diagnosis. With this machine, a diagnosis can be done in a jiffy even if the patient is in Srinagar or Nigeria,'' said Parikh.
ARE YOU READY FOR A MOBILE ECG?
    Anyone experiencing chest pain can call members of the 'Saving Lives' project on 25277000 or 25277001. A doctor will rush to the patient's home immediately in an ambulance or a motorbike (if the patient's residence is at a congested area).
    The medical personnel will carry a specially designed, portable ECG monitor to the patient's home.
    The ECG carried out within a few minutes will, in real time, be MMSed to the cardiologist's mobile phone
If the 12-lead ECG report indicates a heart attack or any other problem, then the patient will be taken to hospital immediately for surgical or medical treatment as needed.
THE MMS-ECG'S USP
The ECG report will be transferred, using cellular internet facility, in less than a minute to the cardiologist's mobile phone. Treatment can thus begin at the patient's home itself or the patient can be taken to hospital immediately.
SUBURBS COVERED
Chunabhatti, Kurla, Chembur, Vidyavihar, Ghatkopar and Vikhroli

SAVING LIVES: (From left) Dr Srikant Parikh, Dr Sunil Lakdawala and Dr Uday Desai have set up A3 Remote Monitoring Technologies that will help heart patients locate a cardiologist in times of emergency