IIT Madras develops VR tools to combat material and newborn deaths
India Today
Researchers from the Centre of Excellence on Virtual Reality & Haptics develop Skill Training Tools for Healthcare Workers in rural areas to reduce Neonatal Mortality rates and Maternal Mortality rates.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras Researchers are working with the National Health Mission of Tamil Nadu to improve newborn and maternal health. Neonatal health and maternal health are crucial to increasing health and reducing poverty in any country, which leads to solving large broader, economic, social, and developmental challenges.
An IIT Madras team at the Centre of Excellence on Virtual Reality (VR) and Haptics, called Experiential Technology Innovation Center (XTIC), identified that skill training of health workers was a major challenge that India was facing, specifically at the primary health centres in rural settings.
Dr. Darez Ahamed IAS, Mission Director, National Health Mission Tamil Nadu, released the ‘SmartNRP project’ IIT Madras on April 19, 2022, for rural healthcare workers to reduce the Maternal Mortality Rate (NMR) in India in the presence of Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras, Prof. M. Manivannan head of XTIC, Dr. J. Kumudha, expert neonatologist, and other stakeholders.
Neonatal Resuscitation Protocol (NRP) is the global standard in first-aid techniques for newborn babies that are not breathing/crying. Using VR, Gaming Technologies, cloud, and AI/ML, the SmartNRP tool will be used for training the PHC health workers in Tamil Nadu under National Health Mission (NHM) to take the technologies forward. This will be scaled subsequently to other states in India where NMR is very high.
Further, Dr Darez Ahamed also released the ‘SmartFHR project’ to reduce the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR). It is aimed at monitoring foetal health using smartphones anywhere and anytime without clinical assistants. This project will also be scaled subsequently to other states where MMR is very high.
