Abhay Parimiti

Perkant Tech addresses the critical problem of inadequate healthcare access in remote and underserved communities, particularly in the Indian region. The challenge is profound: a substantial portion of India's rural population has limited access to primary healthcare facilities, often requiring travel over considerable distances to reach the nearest healthcare provider. This situation exacerbates health outcomes and increases mortality rates, especially in cases requiring timely intervention.

Statistics indicate that nearly half of the world’s population lacks access to comprehensive health services, and this is acutely observable in India's rural areas. In North-East India, for example, healthcare facilities are sparse and often hours away from the communities they serve. The lack of proximity to healthcare facilities delays diagnoses and treatment, leading to preventable complications and poor management of chronic conditions.

Furthermore, the absence of localized healthcare nodes means that communities cannot engage in regular health monitoring or receive continuous care, essential for managing conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases. This gap not only impacts health outcomes but also burdens the healthcare system by increasing the demand for emergency care and advanced medical interventions that could have been mitigated through early detection and routine monitoring. 

By highlighting these pressing issues, Perkant Tech aims to underline the urgent need for scalable, accessible, and efficient healthcare solutions tailored to the unique challenges of India’s diverse and often isolated populations.

Abhay Parimiti is a patented health screening system, recognized for its innovation in both India and the US. It serves as a transformative node extender, allowing healthcare services to reach remote areas without the need for extensive additional resources or skilled operators. This system simplifies the extension of healthcare nodes by leveraging its built-in nbIoT technology, which ensures reliable transmission of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and facilitates easier, more precise digital diagnoses directly from the community level. The system's high portability and energy-efficient design, which supports solar battery operation, significantly reduce the need for extensive healthcare resources such as paramedics, infrastructure, medical equipment, and consistent electricity or network supply, primary barriers to healthcare access.

The device operates on a sophisticated platform utilizing Photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensors integrated with over 100 proprietary algorithms. These algorithms analyze volumetric changes in blood flow to monitor more than 700 biomarkers, enabling the detection of minute yet clinically relevant changes in patient health. This capability supports routine health assessments and enhances predictive health analytics, providing early warnings and insights crucial for proactive medical interventions, thereby eliminating common delays and complications associated with traditional healthcare setups.

Abhay Parimiti’s AI-driven system transforms primary healthcare by delivering clinical-grade assessments of essential vitals like heart rate, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, respiratory rate, temperature, IBI, Heart Rate Variability, Pulse Pressure, and various other cardiac and respiratory health monitoring parameters quickly and non-invasively. Its operator-independent design is particularly suited for environments where medical expertise is scarce, requiring minimal setup and making it highly adaptable to varied operational contexts.

Moreover, this system’s IoT capabilities enable continuous health monitoring and the generation of actionable health data, facilitating early interventions and improved community health management. It also plays a pivotal role in the continuum of care and health surveillance. The AI-driven analytics further enhance its capability by predicting health deterioration and offering personalized health insights, making it an indispensable tool in improving health outcomes and expanding access to quality healthcare services globally.

Demo: https://drive.google.com/file/...

Our solution, Abhay Parimiti, is specifically designed to serve under-resourced communities that are often marginalized in terms of healthcare access. These include remote rural populations, ethnic minorities, economically disadvantaged groups, and areas affected by conflicts or natural disasters where healthcare infrastructure is minimal or non-existent. 

These communities are typically underserved due to a lack of nearby healthcare facilities, insufficient numbers of healthcare professionals, and financial constraints that limit their access to quality medical care. Current solutions often require extensive infrastructure, are cost-prohibitive, and depend on skilled healthcare professionals, which are scarce in these areas.

Abhay Parimiti addresses these challenges by providing a cost-effective, highly portable, easy-to-use system that reduces any cross contamination risks by providing contact less and operator free screenings. It can perform comprehensive health assessments swiftly and non-invasively, measuring essential body vitals through advanced Photoplethysmogram (PPG) technology enhanced with AI-driven analytics. This system allows for early detection of potential health issues, facilitating timely medical interventions that can significantly improve health outcomes.

By integrating with existing health infrastructures or serving as a standalone unit in remote areas, Abhay Parimiti acts as a node extender, bringing healthcare services closer to the community. This not only reduces the need for frequent, costly trips to distant hospitals but also promotes a proactive approach to health management within these communities. The system’s IoT capabilities ensure seamless integration with health databases, enhancing the continuity of care and enabling health systems to effectively monitor and address the needs of their populations. 

By automating primary health screening and offering actionable insights into community health trends over a streamlined dashboard that includes personalised health insights to historical data, our solution significantly helps healthcare professionals make informed decisions, prioritise patients' needs, and allocate resources effectively increasing capacity resilience for them. 

In essence, Abhay Parimiti is not just improving access to healthcare services; it’s transforming the way these services are delivered to the most vulnerable, ensuring that every individual, regardless of their geographic or economic status, can access the healthcare they need.

Our team, led by individuals who have firsthand experience with the challenges faced by under-resourced communities, is uniquely positioned to deliver the Abhay Parimiti solution. Our proximity to these communities isn't just geographical but also emotional and experiential. We have engaged deeply with the communities we aim to serve, incorporating their feedback directly into the development and iterative design of our solution. This approach ensures that our device is not only technologically advanced but also tailored to meet the specific needs and circumstances of these populations.

For instance, during our deployment in the Thamna district of Assam—a very rural area with frequently inaccessible roads due to heavy rains—our portable system enabled door-to-door community screening. With the local MPHC shut, our team facilitated critical health screenings and continued patient monitoring, showcasing our solution's ability to bridge significant gaps in healthcare delivery. This case study exemplifies how our technology and team not only reaches but effectively serves remote communities by providing essential health services right at their doorsteps, thereby promoting health equity.

Team members frequently conduct field visits, participate in community forums, and collaborate with local health workers to gather insights and understand the practical challenges of healthcare delivery in remote areas. As an example, the team members were on field for 3 months to understand and come up with a design that relates with the users as approachable instead of fearing them similar to a standard medical device design. This continuous loop of feedback and refinement makes our solution community-driven and culturally sensitive. 

Moreover, our implementation strategy involves training local health workers and community leaders to operate and maintain the technology, further embedding our solution within the fabric of the communities. By empowering local stakeholders, we ensure that the deployment of our technology is guided by those who understand the local context best, thereby enhancing the sustainability and effectiveness of our healthcare interventions. This community-centric approach not only enriches our solution’s applicability but also fosters a sense of ownership and acceptance among the target population, crucial for the long-term success of any health initiative.

Abhay Parimiti our pioneering health screening solution, has advanced from conceptualization to active deployment across various communities, benefitting from partnerships that enhance its reach and impact. Our collaboration with government bodies, NGOs, and the private sector has been instrumental in executing impactful pilot projects and securing necessary funding to scale our operations. 

Our innovation competes with companies like Philips and GE, delivering the technology 20x more cost-effectively and entirely within India. To develop this patented technology (India and US), our founders successfully completed a comprehensive research, development, and testing roadmap within the first three years of our startup's incorporation. We received grant funding from the prestigious Government of India's AIM, Niti Aayog vertical of $120,000 USD for creating high social impact medical devices in the nation, reducing both import dependency and the cost burden of procuring similar devices. We have also collaborated with state governments in India and have established a manufacturing facility aimed at researching and developing more non-invasive patient monitoring devices that can benefit not just India but the world.

We have forged significant partnerships to test and expand our technology's utility. Notably, our engagement with the Government of Uttarakhand during the Char Dham Yatra involved deploying our devices to manage the health needs of thousands of pilgrims in remote locations. This initiative, supported by organizations like BCG and USAID, underscored our device’s utility in rugged terrains and challenging conditions, providing critical health data that facilitated timely medical interventions.

In the North-Eastern region of India, we partnered with the Selco Foundation, IKEA Foundation, and HT Parekh Foundation to address healthcare accessibility challenges. Our device played a crucial role in community screenings, delivering healthcare services directly to the homes in remote areas, thus bridging significant gaps in primary healthcare delivery.

Our efforts in Jammu and Kashmir, under the CSR initiative of the Indian Oil Company, demonstrated the device's effectiveness in enhancing primary care services, even in politically sensitive and geographically isolated regions. The device's adaptive nature and portability allowed it to be installed in a car and  travel to peak areas within the high terrain region allowing mass screening and also routine monitoring visits. 

Each of these partnerships not only validated our technology but also attracted funding and recognition, including from the World Health organisation and a showcase at the WHO HQ in Geneva in the Eureka Lab. Additionally our innovation has been listed in Top 50 healthcare innovations of India by Niti Aayog, Government of India.  This acknowledgment from high-profile entities not only solidifies our credibility but also supports our mission to deliver accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare services globally.

Applying to MIT Solve represents an opportunity for Perkant Tech to surmount several substantial barriers that currently limit our ability to expand and deepen the impact of our healthcare innovations. Primarily, we are seeking to engage with Solve's network to tackle the following challenges:

1. Technical Enhancement and Validation: While our technology is proven and patented, continuous improvement is vital. Access to Solve's global network of technologists and medical experts can help us refine our AI algorithms and enhance device capabilities to meet diverse international standards and needs.

2. Market Access and Expansion: Despite our successes in India, entering new markets, particularly in under-resourced areas globally, presents significant cultural and regulatory hurdles. Solve’s extensive network can provide vital market insights and connections to local stakeholders, facilitating smoother entry and adaptation to these new markets.

3. Scaling Operations: Our vision to scale operations efficiently hinges on strategic partnerships and collaborations. Solve’s platform offers access to a wide array of potential partners, ranging from supply chain experts to global distributors, who can assist in scaling our production and distribution more effectively.

4. Cultural Integration: Understanding and integrating into the cultural fabric of new deployment areas is crucial. We anticipate that insights and support from Solve’s culturally diverse community can guide us in customizing our health solutions to align with local practices and beliefs, thereby enhancing acceptance and effectiveness.

By joining the Solve community, we aim not only to leverage these opportunities for growth and development but also to contribute our expertise and innovative solutions to a collaborative ecosystem focused on improving global health outcomes. We are committed to a partnership that transcends financial support, aiming for a transformative impact on global healthcare accessibility and equity.

Perkant Tech's Abhay Parimiti represents a paradigm shift in the approach to primary healthcare delivery, particularly in underserved and remote communities. Our innovation lies not just in the technology itself but in how it redefines the accessibility and integration of healthcare services.

Innovative Approach:
1. Operator Independence: Unlike traditional health screening devices which often require skilled personnel, Abhay Parimiti is designed for ease of use by anyone with minimal training. This feature democratizes health monitoring, enabling schools, community centers, and even individuals to conduct their health assessments, thereby decentralizing and expanding access to essential health services.

2. Integrated Technology: Utilizing a sophisticated Photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensor, the device captures data on over 700 biomarkers, delivering clinical-grade diagnostics from simple, non-invasive procedures. This capability not only covers basic vitals but also provides insights into cardiovascular and respiratory health, offering a broader spectrum of preventive care.

3. IoT and AI-Driven Analytics: By embedding Internet of Things (IoT) technology and AI, Abhay Parimiti doesn’t just collect data—it analyzes it in real-time, providing actionable insights and predictive analytics. This facilitates early detection and intervention, which is crucial for chronic diseases and conditions that require continual monitoring.

4. Sustainable Modern Tech: The system aims to be a sustainable medical system by involving zero consumable digital tests, power efficient operation incorporating a solar renewable energy powered battery and even including future digital predictive tests to be zero consumable and operator free. 

5. EHR Standardisation: Our system and platform allows for an easy integration with the government's UHI initiatives. In India, this system easily integrated with the National Digital Health Mission and allowed for each user's health data to be streamlined with their National Health ID (ABHA). Through easy RFID Card/QR based scan initiation options within the device, it paves the way for easy health data monitoring complying by all security protocols. 

Catalyzing Broader Impact:

The scalability and affordability of Abhay Parimiti can catalyze broader impacts in the healthcare industry by setting new standards for what communities can expect from primary care technologies. By providing an all-in-one solution that is both cost-effective and high-performing, it challenges other market players to innovate towards more inclusive health solutions.

Market Transformation:
Abhay Parimiti could significantly alter the healthcare landscape by:
- Reducing the Dependency on Centralized Healthcare Facilities: By enabling local health screenings, it reduces the frequency of visits to distant healthcare facilities, thus decongesting those centers and saving significant healthcare costs and empowering preventative care. 

- Facilitating Continuous and Remote Care: Its capability to function in low-resource settings and integrate seamlessly with current health systems makes it an invaluable tool for continuous care models, particularly important in managing aging populations or chronic disease patients. 

- Automatic EHR: The system extends an automatic EHR protocol through user identification process before each scan. It does so with easy RFID card/QR based identification methods and integrates easily with government's UHI to produce data health decisions and policies can rely on. 

Theory of Change for Perkant Tech’s Innovative Solution: 

Activities:
1. Deployment of Abhay Parimiti Devices: These devices are distributed and installed in remote, underserved areas, community centers, and healthcare facilities lacking sufficient medical infrastructure.
2. Training Local Users: Community members, including non-medical personnel, are trained in basic operation and interpretation of the device’s results, fostering local engagement and ownership.
3. Continuous Data Collection and Analysis: The devices continuously collect health data, which is analyzed using AI to provide actionable health insights and predictive analytics.

Immediate Outputs:
1. Increased Access to Primary Health Assessments: The easy-to-use and portable nature of the device ensures that more individuals, especially in remote areas, have access to primary health screenings.
2. Empowerment through Education: Training programs enhance local capacity, empowering individuals to manage their health proactively.
3. Real-Time Health Monitoring: IoT capabilities allow for the real-time monitoring of community health trends, facilitating early intervention and tailored health campaigns.

Intermediate Outcomes:
1. Reduction in Hospital Visits: By enabling local screenings and early detection, fewer individuals need to travel to distant hospitals for basic assessments, reducing strain on central healthcare facilities and decreasing out-of-pocket expenditures for families.
2. Improved Health Outcomes: Early detection and continuous monitoring lead to timely medical interventions, potentially reducing the severity of diseases and improving overall community health statistics.
3. Enhanced Community Health Systems: With real-time data and AI insights, local health systems can better allocate resources, prioritize interventions, and tailor public health initiatives to community-specific needs.

Long-Term Impact:
1. Systematic Reduction in Health Disparities: By making health services accessible and affordable, the solution targets systemic barriers that contribute to health inequities, particularly among marginalized populations.
2. Sustainable Health Practices: The ongoing use and local ownership of the technology foster sustainable health practices, ensuring that communities remain resilient in the face of future health challenges.
3. Scalable Model for Global Health Improvement: The successful implementation and proven impact of the device provide a replicable model for global stakeholders interested in similar interventions, potentially influencing broader policy and funding shifts towards innovative health solutions.

Evidence to Support Links:
- Pilot Studies: Field deployments in the Char Dham Yatra and with the Selco Foundation in Northeast India demonstrated significant decreases in emergency health incidents and overall improvement in community health engagement.
- Third-Party Evaluations: Independent evaluations noted the device’s accuracy and user satisfaction, with a significant reduction in logistical costs and improvement in diagnostic speed.
- Feedback from Users: Interviews with local users highlighted increased confidence in managing health, a reduction in travel times and costs, and an appreciation for the device’s ease of use and reliability.

This theory of change outlines a clear path from specific activities through to desired impacts, grounded in tangible evidence from our ongoing operations and external validations. By directly linking these elements, we present a compelling case for the effectiveness and necessity of our solution in transforming primary healthcare delivery.

1. Increase Access to Primary Healthcare:

   - Goal: To provide comprehensive primary healthcare screenings to 1 million individuals in remote and underserved areas by 2025.
   - Measurement: Track the number of individuals screened using the Abhay Parimiti system, with a focus on remote regions identified as high-need. Data is collected directly from device usage statistics and verified through community health records.

2. Enhance Early Disease Detection and Intervention:
   - Goal: To increase early detection rates of non-communicable diseases and other prevalent health conditions by 40% in the communities served.
   - Measurement: Analyze pre- and post-deployment health data to measure changes in early diagnosis rates. Collaborate with local healthcare providers to monitor health outcomes and interventions made possible by early detection through our device.

3. Reduce Health Disparity in Under-Resourced Communities:
   - Goal: To decrease the health service accessibility gap between urban and rural populations in our target markets by 10%.
   - Measurement: Use health service utilization rates and patient follow-up rates as indicators, comparing baseline data from before device implementation to data collected after deployment. Surveys and feedback from users and healthcare providers also provide qualitative insights into improved accessibility.

4. Empower Communities with Health Data Insights:
   - Goal: To implement AI-driven health monitoring systems in at least 500 community health centers, providing continuous health data insights and enhancing local health decision-making.
   - Measurement: Monitor the number of health centers using the AI system, the frequency of data utilization for community health planning, and the actionable changes made based on the insights provided by our technology.

Indicators Used for Measurement:
- Number of Screenings Conducted: Direct indicator of access and utilization of the health screening system.
- Rate of Early Disease Detection: Measures the effectiveness of the device in identifying health issues earlier than typical diagnostics.
- Health Outcome Improvement Rate: Tracks improvements in patient health following interventions facilitated by early diagnostics through the device.
- User Satisfaction and Empowerment: Assessed through regular feedback and surveys from both healthcare providers and patients using the device.

These goals and indicators are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), by promoting universal health coverage and providing access to essential healthcare services. Our progress is meticulously documented through both quantitative data from the device's usage and qualitative feedback from stakeholders, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the impact created. This structured approach allows us to continuously refine our strategies and scale our impact effectively.

Abhay Parimiti, our flagship product, harnesses a blend of advanced photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver a comprehensive and accessible health screening solution. This core technology operates on the scientific principle of detecting volumetric changes in blood flow through light-based sensors, which are then analyzed to assess various health parameters such as heart rate, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure.

Photoplethysmography (PPG) Technology:
PPG technology is the backbone of our device, enabling non-invasive monitoring by emitting light into the skin and measuring the light absorption changes caused by blood flow dynamics. This method provides real-time data on blood volume changes, which are crucial for assessing cardiovascular health.

Proprietary Calibration Modes: Our device achieves clinical-grade precision through individual calibration and a high sampling rate of 3000 samples per second (achieved by our proprietary algorithms), tailored to diverse patient demographics. With an added layer of various calibration modes through gold-standard systems periodically (ex: A sphygmomanometer) we ensure high accuracy even with a finger based measurement methods. 

AI-Driven Data Analysis:
The data captured by PPG sensors are processed using over 100 proprietary algorithms developed in-house. These algorithms enable the device to interpret complex biometric data, turning raw signals into actionable health insights. Our AI system not only analyzes routine vitals but also identifies patterns indicative of potential health issues, facilitating early intervention.

IoT Integration for Seamless Data Transmission:
Leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) technology, Abhay Parimiti ensures that all data captured is seamlessly transmitted and integrated into Electronic Health Records (EHRs). This feature is vital for maintaining continuous patient records and supports healthcare providers in managing patient care more effectively.

Sustainable and Community-Focused Design:
Reflecting our commitment to sustainability and community health, the device is engineered to be energy-efficient, with the capability to operate on solar power. This design choice ensures that it can function effectively in remote and under-resourced areas without consistent electricity, making it particularly suited for global health challenges.

Combination of Modern and Ancestral Knowledge:
While primarily based on modern technological principles, our approach also respects and incorporates traditional community knowledge systems, particularly in the way health data is used to reinforce community-based health practices and preventive care.

This combination of advanced PPG sensors, AI algorithms, IoT capabilities, and sustainable design principles makes Abhay Parimiti a powerful tool in the global effort to improve health outcomes and access, particularly in underserved areas. Through this innovative use of technology, we are not only addressing immediate health needs but are also contributing to a more equitable health future.

At Perkant Tech, our team of 10 professionals, including 5 full-time staff and 5 part-time consultants, diligently develops and refines our health screening system, Abhay Parimiti. Our skilled team boasts over 20+ years of experience in their respective fields, encompassing core development, research, product management, and administration. We also collaborate with 3 clinical advisors, experts in medical fields crucial to our product’s application, who ensure our device meets stringent medical standards and assist in guiding our clinical validations. This structure enhances our operational flexibility, allowing us to swiftly adapt and respond to evolving challenges and opportunities.

The Founders: 4 years; The Organisation: 3.5 years

At Perkant Tech, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are central to our mission, driving innovation and creativity within our team. Our leadership represents diverse cultural, educational, and professional backgrounds, enhancing our approach to global health solutions. We actively recruit from underrepresented groups, partnering with organizations that promote diversity in STEM and providing DEI training to all employees. Our equitable practices include removing systemic barriers and ensuring merit-based advancements, supported by clear performance metrics. We offer flexible work arrangements and have established Employee Resource Groups and feedback mechanisms to foster an inclusive environment. Additionally, we focus on skill training to equip every team member for success and plan to further increase our diversity, particularly by integrating more international perspectives and enhancing accessibility for people with disabilities. These initiatives not only reflect our organizational values but are essential for effectively serving diverse global communities.

Perkant Tech operates under a hybrid business model that effectively addresses the diverse needs of various stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem, ensuring accessibility, affordability, and quality.

Key Beneficiaries and Customers: Our primary beneficiaries include underserved populations in remote and rural areas, healthcare facilities in low-resource settings, and NGOs working in health sectors. Our customers range from government health departments to private healthcare providers and international health organizations opening up a multi channel sales option ranging from B2G to B2B to B2B2C. 

Products and Services: We offer the Abhay Parimiti, a cutting-edge health screening system that provides rapid, non-invasive assessments of five critical body vitals. This system comprises of a stand-alone device which is designed to be portable, cost-effective, and easy to use without requiring skilled operators, making it ideal for remote deployments along with a compatible dashboard that allows both end users and admin to monitor health metrics, get AI based predictions and health insights with multiple EHR storage options as per special compliances. 

Value Delivery: Our device delivers value through its operator-independent functionality and IoT capabilities, which enable seamless integration with existing health systems for real-time health data analysis and EHR management. This facilitates improved patient monitoring, early disease detection, and efficient resource allocation in healthcare settings.

Revenue Model: Our revenue streams are generated through direct sales of the device, a subscription model for continuous software updates and data analytics services, and partnerships with NGOs and government bodies for large-scale deployment projects. We also explore grant funding and CSR initiatives to support deployments in extremely resource-limited settings.

Need Fulfillment: The demand for our product stems from the critical need for accessible and reliable healthcare diagnostics in areas affected by geographic and economic barriers. By providing a solution that can operate independently of extensive healthcare infrastructure, we empower communities to take proactive steps in managing their health, ultimately reducing the burden on centralized health systems and improving overall health outcomes.

This business model not only ensures the sustainability of our operations but also maximizes the impact on our beneficiaries, aligning with our mission to democratize healthcare access globally.

Our financial sustainability is strategically designed to combine diverse revenue streams, including government grants, showcases, state-run incubation center funding, and manufacturing partnerships, ensuring long-term viability.

We received a significant boost with a grant of INR 1 crore ($121,900 USD) from the Indian government under the Atal New India Challenge scheme, specifically aimed at supporting indigenous manufacturing startups with high social impact products. This initial funding was pivotal in transitioning from the developmental stage to market readiness.

Our innovation has garnered international attention, having been showcased at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva - Eureka showcase. Domestically, our visibility has been bolstered through showcases organized by Indian government departments such as MEITy, C-DOT, and NASSCOM. These platforms have not only enhanced our credibility but also attracted interest from potential investors and partners, facilitating further financial avenues.

Additionally, we have secured $36,570 USD in support from a state-run Atal Incubation Center, which provides comprehensive backing for technology development and market expansion. This funding is crucial for refining our product and extending our operational reach.

Our manufacturing partnerships at two leading medical device parks in India underpin our production strategy. These partnerships are supported by state governments and include benefits such as R&D support, subsidised and cost-effective manufacturing options, and production grants. This arrangement ensures that we can continue to innovate and scale our solutions sustainably, maintaining a balance between high-quality production and financial health.

Through these combined efforts, we have established a robust financial foundation that supports our ongoing operations and future growth, demonstrating a successful application of our funding strategy to date.