AIIMS Nagpur develops smart wristband to track coronavirus positive and suspected patients

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Nagpur in collaboration with IIT Jodhpur and IIT Nagpur has indigenously designed and developed a model for effective tracking and monitoring of COVID positive and suspect patients.

This device is in the form of a smart wristband that is designed to overcome the limitations of any existing online mobile apps for tracking and monitoring.

The existing apps depend on the continuous use of mobile phones by the quarantined person and the availability of stable internet connections.

Additionally, the existing mobile apps use GPS or cell tower triangulation methods for tracking location with an accuracy that may vary sometimes up to a radius of 1.5 to 2 kilometres.

Apart from tracking the quarantined person's movement, it is also essential to monitor their symptom which in the existing apps relies only on the user's subjective self-assessment.

"The novel device can provide mobile free operation, using a geofencing technology which will provide a real-time alert on any breach in the quarantine zone," said Dr Prathamesh Kamble, Assistant Professor, Physiology, AIIMS Nagpur.

This wristband, in addition, will provide real-time, objective and reliable data of vitals of the wearer like the temperature, pulse rate, respiratoryrate and the oxygen saturation, so that the quarantined person will get a health alarm thus helping them seek early medical help.

This data will be collected and archived on cloud facilitating monitoring by health workers from a distance.

The technology is developed by Dr Mayur Parate and Dr Ankit Bhurane, city-based professionals from IIIT Nagpur. This device will operate on a technology that is more effective than the GPS system, said Dr Mayur.