The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the importance of point of care systems and the need to develop the Healthcare system. Many low to middle income countries across the globe are afflicted with several communicable, infection, and lethal diseases, that are avoidable and treatable if detected early and accurately. With poor health organization and absence of appropriate healthcare set up and diagnostic apparatuses & tools at the point of patient contact and disruption in engagement lead to progression and spread of the disease poses a big risk to the patient health, and even on the society and also on the country’s economy.

Point Of Care testing outlines the capability to carry-out appropriate and consistent diagnostic tests in absence of suitable laboratory and healthcare arrangement or organization. These tests must be accessible, cost effective, quick, transportable, battery operated, and must have excellent data transfer system. They can meaningfully reduce the turnaround time with proper intervention, even in remote places or resource-limited areas, and the treatment or tests must be accomplished within the same day. So, the early diagnosis can help detect the root cause of the concern and early treatment ensures quick patient recovery and also helps reduce the spread of infectious disease to the community. If there is an initial and proper management of the diseases and if they are mitigated in the early stages, it also resolves the difficulties of people living in remote or out-of-the-way areas by providing them with remote healthcare access.

The POCD market is marked for substantial growth due to the increasing frequency of chronic diseases which need enduring care and regular monitoring, and quickly growing demand for cost-effective and advanced POC diagnostic apparatus. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a pattern shift in the POC testing situation in India. It has driven research fixated on the progress of testing strategies which can be swift and efficient, and can be executed in the community as a point-of-care testing. The pandemic has enhanced the decentralisation trend in testing. Getting closer to patients outside of laboratories, hospitals, homes enables a quicker response to medical requirements.

The current status of the growing healthcare infrastructure, the newfound emphasis on modernization of POC products and diagnostic kits for patients and taking into account the rapidly increasing patient population with growing cases of chronic diseases is leading to the promotion of the market. The market is expected to grow near to 18 per cent per year.

In India, where there is an irregular distribution of healthcare resources and infrastructure, the implementation of POC tests is increasing as a vital tool to provide adequate diagnostic coverage to the population. In our country, we face key challenges in evaluating rural patients’ healthcare needs and in providing them appropriate quality healthcare at the point-of-care. This is also a serious challenge in metropolitan areas where the hospital and primary healthcare facilities are inefficient to cater to the large population. Hence, POC diagnostics are important for a quick and inexpensive way to reach bigger populations for improved healthcare.

Advancements in POC devices:

There is a growing acknowledgment that POC diagnostics can aid in the reduction of burden on healthcare systems as they are intended to have utility in the clinical settings as well as in inaccessible places. While advanced point-of-care diagnostic devices hold prodigious promise to expand quality of and access to primary healthcare delivery in India, it is imperative to present new innovations that have budding potential.

POC diagnostic devices used for tracking Glucose, ECG, blood pressure, etc. have greatly assisted clinical and personalised healthcare. Technological advancements have initiated the development of several ground-breaking POC diagnostic devices for diverse applications. Recent improvements in the field of biosensing technology, microfluidics, and paper-based diagnostics will revolutionize the quality and effectiveness of diagnostics. Scientists and entrepreneurs have made a vast impact on the development of next-generation POC diagnostic devices, which are built upon the latest advancements such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) etc.

Development Potential: 

  • Implementation of indigenous rapid point of care tests with improved sensitivity and specificity
  • Software and algorithms for understanding of test results even in the absence of an expert technician
  • The capacity to conduct PoC diagnostic tests at scale, adapt to substantial upsurges in demand like pandemics, and keep the cost of manufacturing low is the key
  • Usage of technologies such as AI and Machine Learning to make POCT inexpensive, quicker, and easily manageable for quality determination
  • Integrated POC diagnostic devices to safeguard movement of data from devices to national health system.

Point-of-care diagnostics (POCD) play a fundamental role in the healthcare sector. With time, it has garnered momentous consideration for rapid diagnosis of innumerable lethal or infectious diseases like cancer, diabetes and infectious diseases, as well as for tracking of patients’ health conditions. POC devices are viewed as effectual diagnostic options to avert delays in treatment, a decisive factor in avoiding high mortality rate and spread of infectious agents.