Device for stroke victims launched

The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad's Center for Healthcare Entrepreneurship(CfHE)-Incubated Startup BeAble Health on Thursday launched 'Arm Able', an interactive arm training rehabilitative device offering a solution for arm rehabilitation.

The product is aimed towards neuro-rehabilitation of stroke victims and motor rehabilitation of victims with upper limb motor deficit due to conditions such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, fracture or frozen.

BeABle, founded by CfHE fellow Habib Ali, a biomedical engineer and roboticist, launched the product during the graduation of third batch of CfHE fellows. As many as eight fellows have graduated in the third batch. A total of 16 fellows have graduated from all the three batches.

CfHE offers a prestigious Fellowship program in Healthcare Entrepreneurship focused on biodesign innovation through a structured and fast-paced one year curriculum.

The fellows enrolled in this program undergo a thorough immersion in clinical environment to identify the unmet needs. This is followed by training in needs analysis, solutions and business plan development.

"This is not a traditional program that awards a degree. We want to understand and address the question of what it takes to bring a medical product from an unmet need in the clinic to the people who wants to use it," said Prof Renu John, Co-Head, CfHE, IIT Hyderabad, and Head, Department of Biomedical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad.

BeABle Founder and CfHE Fellow Habib Ali said BeAble Health was committed to enabling health and live through design and technology.

"We are solving the need for an intensive and engaging, rehabilitation therapy for individuals with upper extremity motor deficit at clinic and home, which can minimize the burden on the therapists, without compromising on the quality of therapy," he said.