Envision a healthcare landscape where cutting-edge medical technologies are not only universally accessible but also remarkably affordable. Imagine a single drop of blood revealing a comprehensive pathology report in the most remote geographies, or consider a future where the need for a blood drop itself is obsolete, and non-invasive technologies deftly gauge health parameters. What if your smartphone’s camera could detect diseases through a simple retinal scan? Once confined to the pages of 1960s science fiction, such narratives are now inching closer to becoming a reality.
Out-of-pocket (OOP) healthcare expenses are a significant burden, especially in low-resource settings, and can often lead to financial hardship and intergenerational poverty. Innovations in screening, testing, and diagnostics are crucial to making healthcare more accessible and affordable, particularly for the poor and most vulnerable groups, such as women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities.
Many low-resource areas suffer from inadequate diagnostic facilities. Skilled technicians and advanced diagnostic tools are often scarce. Delayed or imprecise medical diagnoses can lead to adverse health outcomes. Diagnostic devices should be designed to be lightweight, easy to transport, and usable in varied environments, thus making them ideal for remote or underserved areas. They should also allow for easy electronic transmission for remote consultations and analysis.
Point of care (POC) testing devices can bridge the gap between communities and essential healthcare services by empowering frontline health workers to conduct early screening and make timely referrals. This is crucial in low-resource settings where early detection of diseases can significantly improve treatment outcomes and save lives. From portable diagnostic kits to mobile health apps, we need innovation in POC technology to make these devices more accurate, affordable, user-friendly, and adaptable to various environments.
For example, our portfolio company, Vidcare Innovations , has developed a diagnostic platform using a novel immunoassay technology, which can provide results without the additional need for an electronic reader. We are also seeing significant advancements in AI, enabling the identification of abnormalities, providing preliminary diagnoses, and prioritising cases based on severity. This technology has seen remarkable growth in areas like radiology, pathology, and dermatology, to name a few. Some of our portfolio companies, such as Ai Health Highway , already leverage the power of AI in medical screening.
There is immense potential in translating deep scientific research into impactful solutions for deployment in public and private healthcare systems. However, realising this potential involves navigating affordability, technological adaptation, training, infrastructure, and regulatory compliance. Attracting investors and philanthropists to this high-risk space is extremely difficult and requires a significantly large amount of non-dilutive and patient capital. Despite these challenges, our portfolio company, Voxelgrids Innovations Pvt Ltd , has developed a sophisticated, lightweight, ultra-fast, non-cryogenic MRI scanner to make medical imaging more affordable, accurate, and accessible in remote geographies.
As we celebrate World Health Day on 7th April and reflect on the global healthcare challenges, Social Alpha reaffirms its commitment to supporting healthcare innovations that strive to make ‘My health, my right’ a reality for all. Through its lab-to-market enablement ecosystem, Social Alpha will continue to support innovations that can reduce healthcare costs, democratise access and promote global health equity.
Looking back at some of our start-ups’ remarkable achievements, such as Voxelgrids and Ai Health Highway receiving Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) approval and Vidcare entering the clinical trials phase, we are encouraged by the progress made. We invite you to explore the full list of our healthcare innovation portfolio on our website.
– Manoj Kumar Founder, Social Alpha
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C Clark – Profiles of the Future: An Enquiry into the Limits of the Possible (1973)