Ambar Srivastava of IIT-Delhi developed TrueHb Hemometer to test haemoglobin

Ambar Srivastava of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi on 29 March 2014 developed the TrueHb Hemometer to test haemoglobin. The device of the size of a mobile phone is the first case of an innovation from biomedical engineering department of IIT-Delhi actually getting productized.

The device has been validated by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for its efficacy. It will help identify and tackle anaemia effectively in India which has a very high prevalence of anaemia and the related maternal deaths from it.

Srivastava has established a company named Wrig Nanosystems Pvt Ltd to produce and commercialise TrueHb Hemometers.

The device was developed with funding from the Technology Development Board of the Department of Science and Technology at IIT's Centre for Biomedical Engineering. The Centre for Biomedical Engineerign was established in 1971 as a joint venture between IIT and AIIMS to develop healthcare technologies.

Advantages of TrueHb Hemometer over Other devices

The price of TrueHb meter is expected to be lower at 25000 rupees compared to the CBC counter which at present is the gold standard for haemogram tests in labs. It costs around 2 - 10 lakh rupees.

It can be charged like a mobile phone and allows up to 300 tests per charge when compared to CBC counter that require continous power supply.

In terms of size also, it is better than CBC counter which is at least twice the size of a personal computer compared to mobile phone-size of TrueHb meter.

It is also ultraportable as it weighs under 800gm and has a sleek optoelectronics design.

It is also better than the paper-based colour cards that use a colour scale to provide a rough estimate of haemoglobin values. Such cards give a range and not an exact value of the haemoglobin level.

TrueHb works like a conventional glucometer and works with just a tiny drop of blood from a pinprick on the disposable strip. It not only reads the accurate level within 45 seconds, but also stores up to 1000 such readings.

It will be very useful on the field for health workers, blood banks, primary health centres, the school health scheme of the government, and all point of care use, including for use at home.