Making the Impossible Possible: GE develops portable, affordable EKG

Brought to our attention by Technology, Health & Development Blog by Aman is a story of technological innovation at its finest. The challenge was to create an affordable, portable electorkardiogram (EKG) that helps doctors assess various heart ailments, particularly acute heart attacks and strokes. The original story can be found in Business Week. Here is a telling excerpt:

“GE Healthcare engineer Davy Hwang’s marching orders were straightforward. Take a 15-lb. electrocardiograph machine that cost $5.4 million and took three and a half years to develop. Squeeze the same technology into a portable device that weighs less than three pounds and can be held with one hand. Oh, and develop it in 18 months for just 60% of its wholesale cost. ‘He thought I was crazy’…” Crazy or not, Hwang pulled it off…The result: The new MAC 400, GE’s first portable ECG designed in India for the fast-growing local market.”

You can watch a Youtube video for the device after the jump.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB47wx-b6sY&eurl]