Point of care (PoC) diagnostics is not new to India. It’s been around in the form of glucometers, ECG and personalised devices. The fact that PoC is cost effective and offers clinical information about patients immediately has made it popular.
Conventional lab testing has also been around for a while. Centralised lab testing is again more cost effective if there are many people to be tested. However, where it involves only a single person, PoC home testing is preferable.
Covid has altered our outlook with its thrust on ‘contactless.’ Wherever possible, people tried to look for a contactless approach in many situations. So, coming to Covid, whether people were infected or not, they insisted on monitoring their health on their own and preferably within the closed doors of their home.
Another lesson from Covid is the speed in which clearance approvals of medicines had to be done for emergency use. Licenses had to be certified quickly, then distributed sites...