Union Min Jitendra Singh launches COVID BEEP app, says ‘effective antidote’ to pandemic

PTI, Jun 7, 2020, 9:04 PM IST

New Delhi: Awareness and not anxiety is the key to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Sunday at the launch of ‘COVID BEEP,’ the country’s first indigenous wireless physiological parameters monitoring system for the affected patients.

Singh also said COVID BEEP would emerge as an effective antidote to the pandemic which the entire world is currently grappling with, a statement issued by the Personnel Ministry said.

Launching COVID BEEP, developed by Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) medical college, Hyderabad in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad and the Department of Atomic Energy, he stressed on the importance of prevention and awareness in dealing with this pandemic effectively as the process of unlock has started in a phased manner after a lockdown for over two months.

COVID BEEP, that stands for Continuous Oxygenation & Vital Information Detection Biomed ECIL ESIC Pod, is India’s first indigenous, cost effective, wireless physiological parameters monitoring system for COVID-19 patients, according to the statement.

The latest version of COVID BEEP has incorporated NIBP (non-invasive blood pressure) monitoring, ECG (electrocardiogram) monitoring and the respiratory rate, the statement said. “COVID BEEP will greatly reduce the transmission risk as well as help save resources like personal protective equipment (PPEs),” it said.

Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, said that awareness and not anxiety, is the key to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said COVID BEEP is a perfect example of how synergy amongst the reputed institutes of India can offer solutions to most of the challenges faced by the country with minimum cost and thereby make the country ‘Atmanirbhar’ in the true sense.

Singh also appreciated the work of Department of Atomic Energy, under which ECIL falls, in developing solutions to many health related issues. Contrary to the popular perception, the Department of Atomic Energy is actively involved in promoting the benevolent use of nuclear energy for the greater welfare of mankind, he said.

“Be it in the field of generating electricity, augmenting agricultural produce, food preservation or administering the much renowned oncology centre by the name TMC in Mumbai, the department of atomic energy has always risen to the occasion to stand by the country in its hour of need,” the statement said.

The development of COVID BEEP is another step in the same direction, it added.

Prior to Singh, Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy, Secretary Department of Atomic Energy, K N Vyas, Dean ESIC medical college, Prof Srinivas, Chairman and Managing Director ECIL, Hyderabad, Rear Admiral Sanjay Chaubey (Retd) also spoke on the occasion, underlining the importance of such inventions in the present context, the statement said.