Kochi-based Medtra Innovative Technologies has come out with a device to identify veins easily for intravenous treatment and at a cost lower than in the global market.

The device named Veineux was launched on Friday and is expected to make intravenous treatment easier and affordable for patients and hospitals.There are several issues with identifying veins for injecting medicines or drawing blood samples which get complicated if the vein is that of a child, an obese or aged person or the languid vein of a chemotherapy patient.Such situations which warrant repeated slapping, pressing, warming and palpating the veins with repeated jabs are often clumsy and painful, with even experienced nurses and anesthetists finding it difficult to trace some veins, a statement said.

Sujith Surendran, MD of Medtra Innovative Technologies, and Saj Sulaiman, chairman of the company, both of who are biomedical engineers, developed the new instrument. It works using infra red technology and costs less than half those made in the US and China."The Veineux uses augmented reality based technology to find the vein. Medtra has set up a production facility here and is now listed under 'Make in India' project," said Surendran.