ECG on wheels for Mumbai

Often a mundane incident sows the seed of a brilliant idea in the mind. Six friends — all cardiologists — were on a tea break, when they saw a 30-minute pizza delivery guy whiz past them on his two-wheeler.

The group, who had often witnessed precious moments trickle away while the ambulance ferrying a seriously-ill patient wove its way through Mumbai’s traffic, unanimously came up with the idea — a specially designed mobile ECG machine that can be rushed to a patient’s residence on a two-wheeler.

“A person, experiencing symptoms like chest pain, can dial a number (25277000/1), and a medical worker will rush to his residence on a two-wheeler and track the patient’s electrocardiogram (ECG). What’s more, the ECG report will be sent via MMS to a cardiologist’s mobile phone,” said Dr Sandip Rane, Chembur-based cardiac surgeon.

The project, ‘Saving Lives’ inaugurated recently, is the brainchild of the six cardiologists and a team of IIT experts led by Dr Uday Desai of the electrical engineering department cell, who helped develop the technology that compresses the heavy, medical diagnostic file into an easy-to-transfer MMS.

Currently, residents between Vikhroli and Chunabhatti can benefit from the project. The doctors plan to extend the facility to Thane in the next three months and also make it available to the entire city in the coming year.

“The ECG machine reaches the spot in 10 minutes, and within five minutes the ECG report gets transmitted to my mobile phone, along with a photograph of the patient,” said Dr Rane.

“Once the diagnosis is done, the patient is given the option of going to any hospital that he may desire. The ECG, which would cost about Rs350, is done totally free of cost,” said Dr Bhaskar Shah, another cardiac surgeon.

Doctors involved in saving lives are Dr Nitin Burkule, Dr Vijay Surase, Dr Rajiv Karnik, Dr Dayanand Kumble, Dr Sandip Rane and Dr Bhaskar Shah.