![]() ![]() ![]() In 2013, eager to continue developing devices, Chaturvedi joined the Indian med-tech company InnAccel, where, as director of clinical innovations and partnerships, he has access to engineers and colleagues who share his passion for pushing health care technology forward. “As a doctor in India, I need to deal with the disease, the limited resources, and the cultural and superstitious beliefs.” In 2014, he licensed the Entraview to the medical supply company Medtronic. He funneled this discovery into the Entraview, a hand-held, low-cost, ENT multi-endoscope recorder that Chatarvedi estimates has diagnosed a few hundred thousand patients all over India. With a bit of experimenting, he discovered that using a less sophisticated camera could lead to a solid diagnosis, even based on a lower-resolution image. His a-ha moment came when he realized that low tech didn’t have to mean low quality. (Because of debate over where the poverty line falls, some estimates put the figure as high as 77%.) They often shop for affordable cures and treatments, negotiating with doctors on pricing, Chaturvedi says, “just like they would with a vegetable vendor in a farmer’s market.” A 2012 government census reported that 29.8% of the 1.3 billion population of India live below the poverty line. Those who do seek out a physician’s expertise may be among the estimated 80% of Indians who don’t have health insurance and pay for care out-of-pocket. Chaturvedi says that some people refuse treatment because they are convinced that taking medicine is a bigger gamble than learning to live with a particular ailment. India, he says, can be a place of idiosyncratic patient expectations, where superstitions and religious beliefs (across socioeconomic and educational backgrounds) can influence the choice of doctor and treatment. That’s partly because being a physician in his home country comes with abundant constraints. ![]()
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