Diagnosis is a major expense for people having chronic diseases like diabetes, anaemia etc. Timely glucose measurement, urine analysis and whatnot are required, making it difficult for people with lower income levels to monitor their health. In countries like India, where the rural population is unaware of chronic diseases and also lacks the facilities to address them, low-cost diagnostic devices are a must.
This vision of making chronic healthcare available and affordable in tier-2 and tier-3 cities of India fuelled the startup – Biosense.
This article covers everything about Biosense and how it is revolutionising chronic care in rural India.
What is Biosense?
Biosense is a medical device manufacturing company. It is an expert combination of next-gen healthcare and technology that serves people with revolutionary budget-friendly diagnoses at home. Its products like SYNC glucometer, Uchek and ToucHb provide a quality diagnosis on budget.
Every Biosense product saves up to one-third of your hard-earned money by providing quality products that are affordable, easy to use, portable and built with the point-of-care diagnostic. It is trusted by thousands of people and doctors across the globe.
Biosense products
SYNC Glucometer
Biosense SYNC is a smart and compact glucometer for personal use. With its affordable and easy-to-use glucose test strips, SYNC makes tracking sugar levels a no-brainer. You can also view the graphical representation of your glucose levels on your smartphone using the SYNC app.
Uchek
Uchek is a smartphone-based urine analysis system. It is an innovative system that analyses urine by capturing images at predetermined intervals.
The device measures microalbumin to creatinine ratio and other multi parameters of routine urine analysis by detecting colour changes in urine strip parameters pad. Uchek is known for its highly accurate results.
ToucHb
ToucHb is a non-invasive anaemia screener. It detects anaemia by identifying an unhealthy pale appearance in the conjunctiva, the mucous membrane inside the eyelids that covers the front of the eye. With ToucHb, detecting anaemia is easy and affordable and does not require poking of the needle.
This device is primarily developed keeping rural India in mind, where millions of children and pregnant women die every year due to undiagnosed anaemia. Hence, it is essential to create awareness and provide low-cost diagnosis facilities.
History and background of Biosense
Biosense was founded in 2010 by three terrific med-school students—Abhishek Sen, Yogesh Patil and Aman Midha. It was a dorm-room startup based in Mumbai. On their medical school training days and several postings in primary healthcare across rural Maharashtra, the founders faced the reality of social medicine.
They were puzzled to see little to no use of technology to address chronic health diseases. They also noticed no access to hospitals and medical staff in rural areas. This prompted them to build Biosense Technologies.
The founders of Biosense truly understood the term ‘Democratisation of Healthcare’ and were determined to build a system, model, and technology that will serve millions.
Funding and growth
During the first four years of its inception, Biosense functioned like a college project. Later it was registered as a company. It received massive support from a reputed organisation – the Centre for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship (CIIE), Ahmedabad. It was also the first-ever college project incubated by Villgro-Menterra, India’s oldest and foremost social enterprise incubator.
In recent years, they also secured funding from organisations like The Lemelson Foundation and Grow Well Foundation to fuel their growth.
For the past 12 years, they have diligently worked to make chronic diagnosis affordable in tier-2 and tier-3 cities of India. In the last three years, the company has helped more than 2500 Asha workers across 24 districts in 5 states in India.
With the rise of COVID-19, Biosense advanced its screening and management modality to ensure the best user experience and screening tests to avoid the risk of going outside in the chaos of the pandemic.
Biosense’s future vision
Over the years, Biosense has achieved many milestones. In the future, they aim to achieve the following milestones:
- Consistent and easy access to critical diagnostic services
- Availability of digital diagnostic equipment for general on-site health screening
- All test assignments for data storage and trend analysis
- Technical need to reduce the burden on trained professionals
- Bridge the gap between rural and urban areas by overcoming long wait times and the unavailability of diagnosis services.
Final thoughts
Biosense is on a mission to provide better healthcare by making chronic disease diagnosis accessible and affordable. It is working on extending alternate and appropriate technologies that address the needs of the masses.
Working at the intersection of health technology and people, we will be able to see Biosense touching and improving lives through the wise and practical application of technology.
