In 2016 after losing his close friend to a cardiac arrest, Rajat Jain along with his friends developed Spandan – a matchbox-sized portable ECG device that can detect heart abnormalities.
Four years ago, Rajat Jain (25), a resident of Dehradun, Uttaranchal lost one of his friends to cardiac arrest. He says that while this tragedy was sudden, it also made him realise this was not the first time he witnessed someone close to him pass away owing to a cardiac abnormality.
According to a WHO report in 2016, 17.9 million people die each year from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
“So many people have lost their lives to heart attacks because of non-availability of monitoring equipment, no routine monitoring, lack of routine heart check-ups, and no early diagnosis. When we talk about remote areas or hilly regions like Dehradun, the condition is even worse. Patients have to…