40 innovations developed at Diabetes Hack-a-thon

CAMTech introduces breakthrough solutions to hault diabetes epidemic in India

The Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) at Massachusetts General Hospital Global Health,

introduced upto forty path-breaking solutions at the ‘CAMTech Diabetes Innovation Hack-a-thon’ at the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad, recently.

Committed to the concept of ‘Make in India’ and sourcing local health innovation, the event brought together about 200 participants,

industry mentors and organisers to develop innovative and affordable health technologies that can improve the prevention, diagnosis and management of diabetes in India.

From early screening and detection tools to gamification aimed at compliance to novel insulin delivery mechanisms, this year’s event saw participants,

who worked around the clock for 48 hours, pitching over 60 diabetes-related healthcare challenges,

forming teams, prototyping solutions and developing business models before presenting their ideas to a panel of judges.

The event also included keynote speeches from leaders from the Indian healthcare industry,

who challenged participants to focus on specific, diabetes-related problems, such as access to care, affordable treatment and a lack of awareness and education about diabetes.

“There is a lack of awareness and there are problems with access to specialised diabetes care facilities.

There is an urgent need to implement the ‘5 A Test’ that will make diabetes care in rural India ‘Available, Accessible, Affordable, Appropriate and Acceptable’,” said Dr Nadimity Ganapathi Sastry, director of Dr Mohan’s Diabets Speciality Centre.

“It has been so inspiring to see this diabetes initiative unfold into something that can truly change lives in India,” said Elizabeth Bailey, Director at CAMTech.

“The hack-a-thon transformed ideas into winning solutions, and now we want to make sure those innovations are brought to scale in India.”