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By Surabhi Gupta
New Delhi: India’s well being expertise analysis is clearly shifting away from luxurious innovation to data-led democratization of well being care. India’s well being analysis agenda over the subsequent decade is concentrated on low-cost, AI-directed, non-invasive, and medical applied sciences that may be broadly accessible by the poor. Indian researchers are creating new medical applied sciences for the decrease 70% utilizing robotics for ultrasound techniques, saliva-based diagnostic biomarkers and moveable anaemia detectors. There have been six improvements, starting from robots to pure molecules.
AIIMS–IIT Delhi Robotic Ultrasound System: Precision Without Proximity
In India, the doctor-to-population ratio is 1 to 1541, far beneath the WHO ratio of 1 to 1000. This is exacerbated by the scarcity of docs in rural areas the place diagnostic imaging is restricted. To deal with this, researchers at AIIMS and IIT Delhi have created a robotic ultrasound system, India’s first such AI-guided system, able to offering high-quality, remotely monitored scans whereas safely replicating medical accuracy of over 90% in vascular entry with a decreased complication charge of as much as 15% in comparison with current imaging.
The system learns from the deep learning-based tele-operated automation with AI and replicates repeatable, systematic actions of scanning by an professional radiologist in real-time. The system makes use of deep studying methods to boost picture high quality, together with autonomous correction of place errors and changes in scanning angles. In the long run, these developments can carry a few 70% lower in diagnostic imaging time in distant rural settings.
In AIIMS, Delhi, the trial research of human-based ultrasound photographs demonstrated a 93% accuracy in comparison with a number of current imaging rotary gadgets globally. Its translational potential is huge: scaled deployment might help over 4.5 crore ultrasound screenings yearly throughout India’s main and neighborhood well being centres.
“Our aim is not to replace doctors but to extend their reach to places they can’t physically go,” mentioned the mission crew, emphasizing the design’s adaptability for telemedicine and emergency triage in disaster-hit areas.
From Forests to Pharma: Cancer-Fighting Molecules From Indian Trees
At the opposite finish of the innovation spectrum, researchers at Dr D. Y. Patil Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, Pune, have uncovered a promising lead in pure oncology drug discovery.
Their examine remoted 4 new cytotoxic triterpenoids from the bark of Dysoxylum malabaricum, an Indian tree lengthy utilized in conventional medication. Using LC-MS-based dereplication and bioassay-guided fractionation, the crew recognized compounds that confirmed robust cytotoxicity towards breast most cancers cells, significantly on the G0/G1 section, the place they inhibit the CDC20 and CDC25 enzymes chargeable for cell cycle development.
Among the 4, Compound 3 exhibited the very best efficiency, 30–40% stronger than reference medication in vitro.
The researchers say this discovery might lay the muse for a brand new technology of phytochemical-based chemotherapy brokers. If commercialized below India’s proposed “Pharma-from-Nature” program, these molecules might enhance the nation’s phytochemical drug exports by almost $250 million yearly.
“We’re showing that India’s biodiversity isn’t just ecological wealth, it’s pharmaceutical capital,” lead scientist Nivedita Bhardwaj instructed ETV Bharat.
The compounds additionally function scaffolds for additional chemical optimization, with the potential to broaden India’s footprint within the world pure therapeutics market.
Smart Support For Mobility: Rehabilitation Redefined
Mobility aids, when supplied to sufferers, can imply the distinction between dignity and dependence for sufferers scuffling with neuro-musculoskeletal impairments (such because the aftermath of stroke restoration or spinal twine accidents). Researchers from IIT Bombay and NITK Surathkal have created an progressive assistive expertise that gives a help system with a responding to pure (bio-inspired) motion, which has 3-DOF (diploma of freedom).
Instead of being a passive system like a conventional static exoskeleton, the current mechanism supplied 1-DOF for the trunk motion help system and 3-DOF for limb coordination motion dynamics to attain a gradual posture with a synchronous muscle exercise sample/distribution when attaining the gait coaching purpose.
In simulation trials, gait efficiency improved by over 50% as measured by way of gait symmetry and relationships to the muscle fatigue the person endured whereas advancing their gait to purpose achievement, in comparison with what was achieved whereas receiving regular assistive help from care, with lowered caregiver efforts.
In a really quick time to create, the introduced assistive mobility expertise was made with regionally procured materials/modular parts that supply a cost-efficient different based mostly on exoskeleton expertise at the moment obtained internationally, whereas lowering the price of acquisition by at the least 60–70%.
“We wanted to build something that works in Indian physiotherapy setups, accessible, adaptable, and affordable,” mentioned Subodh Kumar Suman, one of many mission’s lead engineers.
With the cost of India’s ageing inhabitants anticipated to surpass 200 million by 2035, these developments might rework rehabilitation and mobility take care of geriatric sufferers.
A Saliva-Based Vitamin D Test: Simple, Scalable, And Sustainable
Vitamin D deficiency is a major nutrition-related concern in India, with round 70% of the demographic exhibiting deficiency. However, Vitamin D deficiency stays troublesome to diagnose, because the gold normal requires a blood pattern adopted by laboratory evaluation, which presents a considerable barrier to mass screening.
At Saveetha Dental College in Chennai, Dr Sandra Sagar and her crew of researchers have created a novel Vitamin D check that leverages saliva for screening, thus eliminating an invasive sampling course of fully. Through the usage of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method (ELISA), they had been in a position to present average settlement (R² = 0.87) between salivary and serum Vitamin D ranges.
This signifies that saliva might be developed as a dependable biomarker for the monitoring and evaluation of well being and metabolism in relation to immune well being.
“We wanted to pair the oral and systemic diagnostic; your saliva can tell you a lot more than just about your dental health,” Dr Sagar supplied as a proof.
The comfort of saliva-based testing permits for swift implementation into neighborhood screening, akin to at faculties, dental practices, or rural camps.
Offering the check with moveable kits might provide fast screening at a price one-tenth or lower than current blood-based diagnostic exams.
This is a further method of fostering India’s priorities for sustainable, noninvasive preventive well being care, particularly based mostly on the federal government’s precedence on digital and decentralized well being missions.
Anaemia Detection Without Blood Draws
Anaemia is current amongst greater than 50 per cent of ladies and 66 per cent of youngsters in India, however difficult to display for resulting from its requirement for a blood draw for laboratory-based reporting on situation standing. Researchers at Sree Siddhartha Medical College in Tumakuru and JSS Medical College in Mysuru found a novel answer: moveable, needle-free anaemia screening mechanism.
The system makes use of optical sensors coupled with reflectance spectroscopy methodology to calculate a person’s quantity of haemoglobin focus by way of their pores and skin with an accuracy of greater than 85 per cent to laboratory-based values.
Each tiered, easy-to-use system prices roughly ₹1 lakh, however can display 10,000 people every year and is ideal for Anganwadi centres, faculty well being applications, and Primary Health Centres.
“We designed it for frontline workers; it’s handheld, hygienic, and requires no lab infrastructure,” mentioned Dr Priya S. A., one of many examine’s authors.
With correct integration below the Anaemia Mukt Bharat initiative, this innovation might turn into a nationwide software for early screening and maternal well being monitoring.
Contact Lenses That Medicate While You See
In one other nook of the ESTIC showcase, pharmacy researchers introduced a futuristic, but sensible, imaginative and prescient for ophthalmic care.
At L. M. College of Pharmacy, scientists have devised a dual-strategy contact lens that makes use of Vitamin E and Tween 80to lengthen drug launch time by as much as 12 hours, almost thrice longer than typical lenses.
This ensures steady supply of therapeutic brokers for circumstances like glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, the place drug absorption is usually inefficient by way of eye drops.
“Nearly 95% of medicine from standard eye drops is wasted. Our lens-based delivery system ensures sustained and targeted absorption,” Nisarg Solanki, lead researcher, instructed ETV Bharat.
By optimizing dosage and lowering wastage, the method might save as much as 40% in therapy prices whereas enhancing affected person adherence.
With India’s ophthalmic drug market valued at ₹19,000 crore, scalable variations of such lenses might redefine topical drug supply techniques worldwide.
Four of the six depend on AI or sensor-based automation, and 5 emphasize low-cost, non-invasive deployment. Together, they signify India’s evolving health-tech philosophy, one which prizes information accuracy and social scalability over high-cost sophistication.
Instead of replicating Western medical fashions, Indian scientists are creating options tailor-made to the realities of excessive affected person masses, restricted specialists, and cost-sensitive environments.
“The future of health-tech isn’t in replacing doctors but in amplifying their reach through smart, scalable systems,” a senior official from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), which funds many such tasks, instructed ETV Bharat.