Mashelkar Foundation

Winner

2018

Vinay Kumar, PathShodh Healthcare

For Anupath

The Problem

Globally, 425 million people suffer from diabetes and 1.6 million deaths are attributed directly to the chronic disease each year. It causes serious health issues, including blindness, foot amputations, heart attacks, chronic anaemia and kidney failures.

The Motivation

Young Vinay Kumar lived in a remote village in western UP where the health facilities are not up to the mark even today. At the age of 14, he was diagnosed with a chronic condition called juvenile diabetes – a sad turning point for both him and his family. He had to take daily insulin injections to manage his illness. There was no doctor or testing facility in his village and no one in his family had even heard about juvenile diabetes until that point! Vinay’s childhood experiences taught him the importance of science and motivated him to pursue research in public health and chronic disease diagnostics – including diabetes, kidney failure, anaemia and protein deficiencies. His mission eventually led him to setting up PathShodh Healthcare. The company was incubated at the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) at the prestigious Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

The Inclusive Innovation

AnuPath is a point of care bio-sensing device for which can measure multiple parameters related to diabetes, chronic kidney disease and anaemia and malnutrition or protein deficiencies. What’s more, this on-the-spot test does not need special storage conditions or sample/reagent preparation and is ultra-low cost – 80% cheaper than conventional testing methods.

The Impact

The high-tech and high quality device has met International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and European safety standards. PathShodh Healthcare has also successfully received an ISO13485 certification. Anupath has already been used to screen lakhs of people in India.

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Awardee

Vinay Kumar

Vinay is Co-Founder, Director and CEO of PathShodh Healthcare and an Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore alumnus with Ph.D. in nanoscience and engineering.