Health start-up claims cardiac screening camp enroute Kedarnath helped reduce fatalities

A cardiac screening camp at 6000-ft altitude enroute the arduous trek to Kedarnath shrine in Garhwal Himalayas helped reduce fatalities due to heart attacks during the pilgrimage, a health start-up has claimed.

Sunfox Technologies, in collaboration with the Uttarakhand government, had set up the health screening camp at Sonprayag, the starting point of the Kedarnath pilgrimage, a company statement said.

Nearly 1,500 pilgrims were screened at the health camp using Spandan, an easy-to-operate, matchbox-sized ECG device which can detect heart attacks and heart abnormalities on a smartphone.

Healthcare workers at the camp identified 163 pilgrims with abnormalities and advised them to either discontinue the trek or look at alternatives based on clinical assessment.

“This steeply reduced the deaths from 63 in a month to just three,” the company said.

Nearly 95 pilgrims had died during the first two months of the Kedarnath pilgrimage which had begun on May 6 this year. According to state government officials, a large number of the deaths were due to heart attacks.

“The results from our work in Kedarnath have validated the efficacy of our technology, with true potential to transform our healthcare landscape and ensure cardiac health is in the hands of the people,” Rajat Jain, founder and CEO of Sunfox Technologies said in a statement.

He said the ECG device has 99.7 per cent accuracy rate and through its Artificial Intelligence detects 21 arrhythmia patterns, 12 heart dysfunctions and 12 kinds of STEMI and ischemia. The device can be used at home for self monitoring in the same way people use blood pressure monitors.

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