Innovative Indian Minds- Quitting career for social service

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Villagers across India can soon think of having the best medical diagnosis and that too at their doorsteps. A miniaturized pathology laboratory will do the trick. It is capable of conducting vital tests and will help identify many diseases.

All this has been made possible due to efforts of Amit Bhatnagar, an alumnus of IIT- Roorkee. The young engineer gave up a promising career in Hollywood’s Universal Studio to realize his mission. The young engineer has designed a portable biochemistry lab that can be packed in a suitcase. The interesting thing about this mobile laboratory is that it can perform around 23 vital medical tests including those for liver, heart, arthritis and diabetes among a range of others.

The portable lab can prove to be beneficial to patients living in remote areas of the country. The lab in a suitcase was launched by Science and Technology Minister S. Jaipal Reddy who lauded the efforts put in by the young engineer.

The popularity of the lab in the suitcase can be gauged from the fact that it is already being used by a range of security agencies on a pilot basis. While the Border Roads Organization (BRO) is using the same in its dispensaries in Leh, Kargil and Nagaland the same is being used in various initiatives under the National Rural Health Mission in Haryana and Kerala.

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Brigadier S.B Mahajan, the Deputy Director General of BRO had some words of encouragement for the young engineer who has designed the concept. He maintained that the lab in a suitcase helped in early detection of many medical ailments amongst his workers, the late detection of which could have proved disastrous for those suffering from these diseases.

To test the accuracy of the portable laboratory, the results of the tests conducted were cross checked in a conventional lab and were found to be correct. Border Roads Organization encouraged by the success rate of the portable laboratory has placed orders for more such units.

The lab costs up to 3.5 lakh per unit and has range of equipments including centrifuge, blood analyzer, and patient data management software among a range of other equipments. Amit Bhatnagar had reportedly received a soft loan of Rs four crores from Technology Development Board for accomplishing the task and was successful in achieving his mission. He also had to pool in similar amount from other sources to realize his dreams.

Amit did his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Roorkee and completed his Masters in Biomedical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University. The young engineer worked with Universal Studio for nine months where his major task was to analyze consumer trends for products of Hollywood.

However, the young Indian realized that his calling lay elsewhere and he returned to his roots to serve the most unprivileged lot. Bhatnagar is among the young lot of Indians who have left the lure of foreign shores and have decided to serve their country in whatever capacity they can to the best of their ability. The efforts of such talented Indians need to be lauded and Ministry of Science and Technology has taken a pro active stand by helping Amit Bhatnagar realize h

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