Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) researchers in collaboration with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi have developed ‘SwasthGarbh’ mobile application for providing antenatal care and real-time medical support to pregnant women.
“This is the first pregnancy App that provides instantaneous access to doctor’s advice and is clinically endorsed as well as credible.” the institute said in a statement.
Both patients and doctors can avail the benefits of the mobile app free of cost as it is available on the Google Play Store.
The number of apps used in pregnancy is more compared to any other field of medicine. However, there is lack of involvement of clinicians. “To cater to this requirement, Sahil Sharma and Deepak Sharma from the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Roorkee, along with Vatsla Dadhwal and Aparna Sharma from AIIMS, Delhi, developed ‘SwasthGarbh,’ an interactive platform to promote prenatal care which is holistic in its outlook and patient-centere,” it said.
It assists pregnant women, especially in rural areas, by ensuring timely antenatal care visits, recording every clinical test and improving medication adherence. A research paper highlighting the benefits of SwasthGarbh App has been published in the prestigious peer-reviewed
Elaborating on the research, Deepak Sharma, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Roorkee, said: “As higher Neonatal Mortality Rate is an alarming concern, SwasthGarbh Mobile App will provide real-time medical support to all pregnant women and improve maternal-fetal health. This is a gift from IIT Roorkee to all the women in India/World and will help us to move forward in the Prime Minister’s Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat mission.”
Highlighting the utility of the app, Rama Chaudhry, Dean (Research), AIIMS New Delhi, said: “SwasthGarbh App will be quite useful for providing potential solutions to common problems in pregnancy. Our goal is to make the SwasthGarbh App reach every household of our country and thus save precious maternal-fetal lives.”
Congratulating the researchers, IIT Roorkee director KK Pant said: “The utility of telemedicine in healthcare has been brought to the forefront by the COVID-19 pandemic. The smartphone, with over one billion users worldwide, has tremendous potential to transform the field of medical sciences and improve healthcare.”