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NT Bureau
Chennai, Mar 13:

        'Indian Institutes of Technologies (IITs) should get 'Research Parks', a successful concept in West, to help engineering students be pragmatic,' director of Indian Institute of Technology (Chennai) professor M S Ananth has said.

        He said this after launching 'Pedopwergraph', a new portable instrument for measurement of foot pressure of diabetic patients, at Sundaram Medical Foundation (SMF) at Anna Nagar here Sunday.

        Outlining the need for a closer relationship of medicine with engineering professions as new modules of medicine come from engineering only, Ananth said, 'IIT-Madras is holding talks with CMC Vellore to have a fruitful association for the betterment of these trades'.

        The product had been developed after a decade of research by the surgeons of SMF in collaboration with biomedical engineers at IIT-Madras notably by K M Patil, retired professor, division of Biomedical Engineering at IIT Madras. Pedopowergraph, manufactured by Brakes India Limited, costs around Rs 2.6 lakh. It captures foot pressure images with the help of a built-in camera, and analyses the bitmap images with the help of advanced software for the new pressure parameter called power ratio (PR). After the analysis, it gives output of colour-coded statement as diagnosis points out the high risk areas on foot and suggests right kind of footwear to be worn.

        Elaborating on the new instrument, surgeon at SMF Dr V B Narayanamurthy said,' The instrument uses light and indicates the risks in the feet'.

        To prescribe proper footwear to heal the foot ulcer, SMF along with R Y Gaitonde and Co had launched footwear under the name Uchit. Speaking on the occasion, president of R Y Gaitonde and Co Sateesh Jadav said, 'We have both preventive and curative footwear. While preventive footwear costs anywhere between Rs 800 and Rs 1500, the the cost of curative footwear, which is purely based on the prescription, may vary from person to person'.