The Indian Navy has developed a solution for remote monitoring of vital parameters of patients in intensive care unit to reduce the risk of doctors and other healthcare professionals contracting COVID-19.

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The Eastern Naval Command, headquartered in Visakhapatnam, has deployed the remote monitoring facility at Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), which caters to COVID-19 patients from adjoining districts.

VIMS Director had made the request for developing the remote facility recently at a ceremony where the Indian Navy handed over Portable Multifeed Oxygen Manifold to the hospital. He had asked the Navy to explore the feasibility of providing a solution for remote monitoring of vital parameters of patients in ICU to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID to its healthcare staff.

The Navy said a core team comprising two officers and four workers of Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam under Eastern Naval Command, expeditiously designed and implemented the solution. The audio visual output of the bedside Patient Monitoring System was converted to HDMI output and multiplexed for all 48 beds in ICU through a Digital Video Recorder and provided on a big display outside the ICUs where the staff sits.

The facility includes monitoring all patients simultaneously or selecting as required including zooming to one patient and an audio alarm if any vitals are beyond. The same parameters through HDMI Ethernet converter have also been provided to the doctors on their mobile phones. The doctor can, at any time from any place with internet connectivity, monitor his 48 patients in ICU. The conceptualisation to final implementation at VIMS and handing over to its Director VIMS was completed in six days, the Navy said.