Chennai start-up to offer AI-based remote monitoring of Covid-19 treatment

The two devuices that Helyxon has developed to monitor temperature are being sought by healthcare providers in North America, West Asia and the Far East

Chennai-based start-up Helyxon is offering an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based biosensor device and a real time temperature monitor in association with with IIT Madras' Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre (HTIC). The solution can be used for remote monitoring of the body temperature of Covid-19 patients continuously. The company is working with a few healthcare service providers who treat Covid-19 patients.

The start-up has developed two devices. Oxy 2 is a real-time temperature-, heart rate- and oxygen saturation-monitoring device that can be used on thousands of patients at home or hospital, without requiring regular physical checking at a tenth of the cost. The other device is an AI-based biosensor, ’98.6 Fever Watch’, which continuously monitors temperature digitally and alerts doctors or attendants about any abnormal spike. Both devices are effective in remotely monitor Covid-19 patients, and are being sought by healthcare providers in North America, West Asia and the Far East.

Vijai Shankar Raja, Founder, Helyxon, said the products were initially developed with mentoring and funding from IITM's HTIC for paediatric patients in rural area where fewer health care experts are available. Helyxon currently has 130,000 patients using these devices. However, these devices are partiularly useful in monitoring Covid-19 patients since the data can be collected online and the doctors or the nurses need attend the patients only when the equipment throws up any abnormal variation in the readings. Helyxon has tied up with a medical college in Chengalpattu, near Chennai and a private hospital to which it has supplied 25 devices to monitor Covid-19 patients.

The enterprise is also in talks with a few home healthcare companies and state governments to supply the devices. It would look at raising funding from investors in the next three to six months, Raja added.

Headquartered in Chennai, Helyxon was founded by serial entrepreneur Raja in 2014. Its biosensor devices are designed to enable the user to place them on appropriate parts of the body and connect them to a mobile device through Bluetooth. The stream of data is further pushed to a cloud computer server through GSM or Wifi. The data from the server can easily be accessed by authorised care providers across the globe using a mobile device or laptop. A similar path is used for the escalation of alerts raised.

The devices continuously keep track of spikes and aberrations. Whenever an anomaly is observed, a system-generated call is made to the user while an automatic alert is sent to the local health care provider. The devices are equipped with geo-fencing tracking alerts to keep track of patients’ movements and ensure isolated they do not violate quarantine provisions.

The 98.6 Fever Watch is useful for children in whom continuous monitoring of temperature is vital in disease management. The compact watch weighs 5 gm and is 1.5 inches in diameter. It connects to hospital systems or personal systems or devices and keeps transferring patient information to a central dashboard.