October 28, 2021 admin

Healthcare Information Blog: Another effort in IMAEC Medntek’s constant strive to serve patients and stakeholders

Looking at the present circumstances and what we have all endured through during the last two year of the pandemic, it seems inevitable that there will be a rise in chronic and infectious diseases in the near future and that there will be additional healthcare challenges due to an ageing population and changing lifestyle. This will transform patient demographics. At the same time, families are facing challenges due to the cost of healthcare and the limitations of the healthcare system in the country.

We saw how sudden surge in cases brought our health industry to the brink of collapse, while constant need for isolation did the same thing to our economy. We are now planning to restart all the economic and social activities. This means opening airports, corporate and public sector offices, factories, bus and railway stations and social gatherings. But we all know that covid might have been controlled but it is still out there. We are in a situation where not opening our economy is not an option but the possibility of another covid wave is very real.

In case of infectious diseases including covid we understand that the only possible option is to take all precautions while we slowly restart our activities. At the same time our hospitals need to be ready to handle the worst.

Doctors and caregivers can end up being carriers of the virus. Use of instrument disinfectants, surface disinfectants and sanitized or disposable clothes has always been a key to the safety of both patients and staff. But, now that coronavirus is out there, the risks have increased and so has the importance of sanitization. Not doing so can easily cause a mini covid outbreak within a medical facility, and can even make its way to the outside world. Of course, with proper sanitization, all of this can be avoided.

Who we are?

At IMAEC MEDNTEK, we aspire to become the market leaders in Infection Control and dialysis consumables in India as well as on a global scale. IMAEC MEDNTEK Solutions has the ability to cater to various hospital sectors and industries such as Pharmaceutical, Food, Dairy, Veterinary etc.

Our country needs rapidly deployable, state-of-the art, affordable solutions in order to bring our healthcare system at par with developed nations. Constant sanitization of hands, floors, equipment and frequently touched surfaces can allow us to get back to work while keeping covid at bay. which is why we have created a lineup of sanitizing and cleaning solutions to cater to all of our populations sanitization needs. This includes personal hand disinfectants, Instrument and hospital floor cleaners along with medical device disinfectants. We have also designed different types of protective clothing, disposable garments and sheets for use at medical facilities which can allow hospitals and medical facilities to work around the clock, while maintaining effective infection control. We are also working on similar solutions to cater to different healthcare needs such as wound dressing and air purification.

Let’s take another example of healthcare challenge. End-stage renal disease, also known as end-stage kidney disease occurs when chronic kidney disease or in other words, the gradual loss of kidney function reaches an advanced state. At this end-stage, your kidneys are no longer able to perform as they should in order to meet your body’s needs and you need dialysis or a kidney transplant just to stay alive.

In most cases, kidney failure is caused because of other health problems that damage your kidneys slowly, over the period of time. Changing lifestyle, increased stress, lack of physical activity and unbalanced diet lead to diabetes and hypertension. Diabetes and High blood pressure is the second most common cause of End Stage Renal Disease.

Every year around 2.2 Lakh new cases of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) get added to the existing number in India. Hemodialysis practically remains the first and in most cases, the only choice for ESRD patients. resulting in an additional demand of 3.4 Crore dialysis per year. With only around 5000 dialysis centers, the demand is not even half met with existing infrastructure. (1)Two thirds of our nation’s population live in rural areas, where the access to HD is limited. According to a study (3), Most of the patients live 50-100 km away from the nearest facility. The necessity to travel increases costs and exacerbates loss of employment or wages. (4) Besides, most families have to undertake frequent trips, and often over long distances to access dialysis services incurring heavy travel costs and loss of wages for the patient and family members. A study from Kerala, which is one of the more prosperous states in India, showed that families of more than 90% of patients on dialysis suffered catastrophic healthcare expenditure. (5)

The Indian government is trying to increase number of dialysis centers under National Dialysis Program announced in 2016, But less than a third of the requirement can be accommodated under this program, which means that contribution from private sector remains crucial. (2)

Our Vision:

At IMAEC MEDNTEK, our vision is to ensure that people across the nation have the same access to the best possible treatment. We are planning to launch several dialysis centers in India in the coming year. Later, we plan to target tier 2 and tier 3 cities so that the commute time and expenses for Kidney disease patients will reduce significantly. Additionally, we are planning manufacture home dialysis machines and consumables. By providing equipment and support for home hemodialysis we wish to take some load off from in-center dialysis. Additionally, Home hemodialysis comes with its own benefits for patients including the additional comfort of home, improved health benefits and improved quality of life, saving commuting time, to name just a few.

We aspire to provide economical and innovative solutions in infection control and dialysis. Our visions coincide with the government of India’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative. Local production will reduce dependence of foreign suppliers, reduce prices and increase employment in India. On one hand the generated revenue will contribute to the nation’s economy and on the other hand better healthcare solutions provided by IMAEC MEDNTEK will contribute towards nation building, and this is in addition to our plan of serving patients and improving their quality of life. This ambition of serving patients and partnering with all stakeholders is what inspires us to work harder every day.

Our Blog:

However, we asked ourselves, ‘do we want to stop at manufacturing instruments and solutions and providing dialysis services?’ and the answer was No, it wasn’t, we wanted to provide more holistic support and instruments and services are one part of this picture.

In today’s world providing information and spreading awareness is equally important. This blog is the final piece of the puzzle. Here we plan to handle several topics that can help our patients and our stakeholders. Everything from adjusting the Indian diet for a kidney disease to how those who depend on hemodialysis can take advantage of work from home practice. This platform will inform its readers about new advances of technology and it will educate them how to cope up with situations such as pandemic. Target of this blog is not just the patients. We cannot help patients without spreading awareness about the disease, can we??

Only by spreading awareness can we increase knowledge of the common population about ESRD and its effects on a patient’s life. By spreading awareness, we can pressurize governing bodies to take action, we can increase insurance cover for kidney patients and we can increase information available about treatments and their benefits and last but not least we can provide emotional support to the patients. By spreading awareness, we can enable common population to control infections.

Readers can expect informative content regarding renal disease, sanitization, infection control and many topics that are closely or even distantly connected to these twos. Above all, we want to build a sense of community among patients, their family members, caregivers, medical practitioners and common people. We aim to create a platform where interaction among all of them is possible and necessary information is readily available.

References:

(1)http://nhm.gov.in/images/pdf/NHM/NHMGuidelines/Operational_Guidelines_for_Dialysis_Programme.pdf

(2) Jha V. Providing Dialysis in India: Many pieces in the puzzle. Natl Med J India [Epub ahead of print] [cited 2020 Jul 25]. Available from: http://www.nmji.in/preprintarticle.asp?id=279969

(3) Dare AJ, Fu SH, Patra J, Rodriguez PS, Thakur JS, Jha P; Million Death Study Collaborators: Renal failure deaths and their risk factors in India 2001-13: Nationally representative estimates from the million death study. Lancet Glob Health 5: e89–e95, 2017 10.1016/S2214-109X(16)30308-4

(4) Shaikh M, Woodward M, John O, Bassi A, Jan S, Sahay M, Taduri G, Gallagher M, Knight J, Jha V: Utilization, costs, and outcomes for receiving publicly funded hemodialysis in India. Kidney Int 94: 440–445, 2018 10.1016/j.kint.2018.03.028

(5) Bradshaw C, Gracious N, Narayanan R, et al. Paying for Hemodialysis in Kerala, India: A description of Household Financial Hardship in the Context of Medical Subsidy. Kidney Int Rep. 2019;4(3):390-398