When Noida-based Rahul Rastogi’s father Arun Kumar — a seemingly fit man — suffered a heart attack, he was saved by doctors in the nick of time.
“After this episode, we were worried about what if something happens to him in their absence which is not detected on time,” recalls the engineer.
So along with his wife Neha, he looked for devices that could detect Arun’s heart problem early.
The device needed to be user-friendly for laymen not familiar with technology, such as Rahul's father. It had to enable him to easily monitor his heart condition and connect with a doctor.
When they did not find anything, the couple decided to design a device on their own.
“Since both of us are electronics and telecommunications engineers, and had experience in designing hardware and software products respectively, we set up a lab at home and started working on a prototype,” says Neha.
That’s how SanketLife was born. In 2018, they launched a newer version of the device, SanketLife 2.0, a 100% ‘Made in India’ product.
It is a pocket-sized portable ECG machine that can detect cardiac symptoms in just one ECG. The device is coupled with a mobile app that generates a digital PDF report which can be shared with a doctor.
“It is the world’s smallest wireless 12-lead portable ECG monitoring device used by medical professionals, doctors, and individuals,” says Rahul.
The device has three sensors, of which “any two need to be touched at different parts of the body to capture full ECG, the gold standard to detect any problems in the heart,” he explains.
In a traditional ECG setup, leads and electrodes are attached to various parts of the body and electrical signals are displayed on the monitor, which detects a problem in the heart.
But in their device, Rahul says, “It takes ECG just by touch and does not need wires or leads to be attached to the body to measure ECG.”
The devices are made at two facilities, one in Noida and the other in Visakhapatnam. The duo claim to have sold nearly 50,000 units of this device so far.