A jointly developed device by the Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre (HTIC) of Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) and healthcare startup Helyxon is now helping doctors in several hospitals to monitor COVID-19 patients remotely.

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Called OXY2, the device has already reached over 2,000 patients in public and private hospitals, and at homes, with another 5,000 devices in the pipeline, IIT Madras said on August 3. It does clinically accurate continuous monitoring of four critical parameters -- temperature, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate and heart rate.

"There are several attempts to reposition consumer-type devices like wrist bands and wearables as medical devices. But doctors and hospitals are clear that they can only accept devices with accuracy on par with dedicated patient monitors since these are the patient's vital physiological parameters," the Professor at IIT Madras, said in a statement. "As a result, the key technical challenge is to engineer the device so that it meets the standards of a medical patient monitor, and yet costs one-tenth and can easily be fitted and used without any training," the Professor added. According to the institute, the device is completely self-contained, portable, wireless and can be clipped on to a patient's finger and data is streamed to a mobile phone or central monitoring system.

The temperature is measured at the armpit and blood oxygen level and other parameters at the finger itself. The device is reusable and has a lifetime of over a year. The devices can be used by the hospitals and doctors for patient management beyond COVID-19, the institute said. The core technology was validated by a year-long multi-centric study at various Chennai-based medical institutions for the accuracy and performance with reference to current standards. The cost of the device ranges from Rs 2,500-10,000 depending on the configuration and parameters.

"It is more than a monitoring device. Based on feedback from doctors and hospital management, deployment of OXY2 reduces overall load, stress and anxiety in the healthcare system, saves hospital beds for severe cases, and increases confidence for patients at home," said Vijai Shankar Raja, Founder and MD of Helyxon.