IITians Are Creating Technology to Make the Lives of the Elderly Much Better

By Rinchen Norbu Wangchuk

December 22, 2017

The IIT-KGP venture is currently testing their products in old age homes in Varanasi.

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Government institutions in India are having a hard time catering to the needs of India’s growing elderly population.

Assessments by international agencies have noted India’s poor record in taking care of its elders. In the Global Age Watch Index, published by HelpAge International, a global non-profit dedicated to the care and welfare of older adults, India ranks 71 out of 96 nations.

With the cost of living rising every year, and young professionals moving to different cities for better job prospects, the elderly population in this country remains vulnerable. Fundamental to their welfare is the delivery of efficient healthcare services.

In response to this demand, IIT-Kharagpur has nurtured a social business venture called Old Age Support Integrated Services (OASIS), which seeks to bridge the gap between the elderly and caregivers using technological solutions.

For representational purposes (Source: Flickr)

Healthcare monitoring devices developed by OASIS come in the form of sensors and radar equipment that “monitor falls, heart rates, motion and pressure integrated to a ‘complete sleep monitoring system’ with an Android App which can be monitored remotely,” reports the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS).

“These devices will be monitoring the elderly 24×7 and send health information in real-time through a cloud information system to the caregiver or family member connected for the person under monitoring,” said Anushree Basu, a research scholar at IIT Kharagpur and co-founder of OASIS, to IANS. “It will also assess the risk factor and recommend next course of action based on collected data for each individual.” Both Narayan Chandra Nayak from the same institute and Chandrashekhar Sakpal, a Mumbai-based entrepreneur, are the other co-founders.

In old-age homes, donors and stakeholders will have real-time access and receive regular updates on their elderly beneficiary’s health status through the app. Developers at OASIS seek to link their information system with databases of hospitals as well as doctors.

At the moment, the products are undergoing testing in a few old-age homes and hospices in Varanasi.