HD Medical, Inc. – EKG-enabled Intelligent Stethoscope for Cardiac Care
Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) are a worldwide dilemma affecting thousands of children every year. According to a Lancet Journal article over 300,000 children are born with CHD in India annually; over 25% of these children do not survive to their first birthday. This means that over 250 children are dying every day because of CHD.
HD Medical, Inc. has developed HD Steth, the first Intelligent Stethoscope with Integrated ECG. HD Steth enables superior audio and real-time visualization of heart sounds, ECG waveforms, and identifies cardiac murmurs. It is used for early detection and screening of cardiac defects, particularly CHD caused by structural defects which produce a cardiac murmur, such as blockage or leakage in heart valves as well as holes in the heart wall. HD Steth is revolutionizing the way we screen for CHDs.
We are starting a screening program pilot, training 50 healthcare workers to use HD Steth to screen over 500,000 children during 2019 in five locations across India. Over the next three years, we plan to train over 3000 women healthcare workers who in turn will screen 50 Million underserved children worldwide.
The HD Medical Screening Program is having a direct impact on the first 3 Custodian Indicators of UNICEF which are Under-5 mortality, Neonatal mortality and Early childhood development. The screening program also has an indirect impact on UN Sustainable Development Goals #1 No Poverty, #3 Good Health and Wellness, #5 Gender Equality and #8 Decent Work and Economic Growth.
To summarize, the HD Steth and screening program aims to achieve the following:
1) Early detection of CHD and timely intervention to save the lives of children
2) Reduce IMR, NMR and MMR
3) Empower Rural Healthcare Workers, particularly women for Skillset Development & Training
4) Provide Sustainable Income for these Healthcare Workers
5) Enable rural upliftment