CHENNAI: A team of doctors and engineers has developed a bluetooth-enabled fever thermometer to get the details like temperature and location of patients to map fever clusters. It would help targeted testing with existing test kits and identify hotspots with the help of an app.
As of now, the state health department is testing people who volunteer. If employed, the smart thermometer would give daily updates on symptoms in vulnerable areas. “Smart thermometer is like a normal digital thermometer, but enabled with bluetooth technology. If a patient tests his/her temperature, the details including temperature, location and image of the person can be viewed in a mobile app,” said Dr Senthilvelan R, one of the medical partners of National Hub for Healthcare Instrumentation and Development (NHHID), Anna University and coordinator of the project.
These details will be sent to a server and are viewable in map mode by relevant authorities.“It is not relying on individuals’ voluntary disclosure of symptoms. Wherever the fever cases are more we can conduct more Covid-19 tests. It also limits number of health workers involved in Covid-19 screening and would reduce risk of infection as it is operated remotely,” he added. The app also collects data including symptoms like cough, sore throat or shortness of breath along with fever.
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“With this tracker the government will be able to pinpoint the area of spread. It can also be added as additional feature in government apps like Aarogya Setu or GCC Corona,” Dr Senthilvelan said.The smart thermometer and the app was jointly developed by a team of engineers and doctors including K Gopinath, K Omprakash and Dr Nehru. “Testing and isolating infected people or people with symptoms is the best available method to contain the virus.
But, testing everyone is not possible and so the smart fever thermometer would help with targeted testing,” said professor K Sankaran, network consultant of NHHID. The smart thermometer is validated and entered into the stage of commercial production. Since it is indigenously developed, it would cost around Rs 300 per piece only.
