Delhi to begin needle-free, rapid anaemia screenings soon

An official said the non-invasive method uses optical spectroscopy and AI algorithms to estimate haemoglobin levels without drawing blood.

The Delhi government will launch a new non-invasive anaemia screening project aimed at determining the prevalence and trends of anaemia across age groups in the national capital, officials from the health department said. The pilot will also evaluate “the cost-effectiveness, rapidity and overall utility of this new non-invasive technology” as part of the screening initiative.

Delhi to begin needle-free, rapid anaemia screenings soon

According to the National Family Health Survey 5 for 2019 to 2021, 50.6 percent of women and 66.1 percent of children aged six to fifty-nine months in the Delhi NCR region have anaemia. Calling the burden “high despite multiple initiatives”, health minister Pankaj Singh said, “Hence, with this new initiative, we aim to take further steps to tackle the issue at hand.”

India’s Anaemia Mukt Bharat campaign, launched in 2018, has relied on invasive testing methods such as HemoCue, a point-of-care device that requires a drop of blood on a microcuvette strip, which is inserted into a photometer to measure haemoglobin concentration. Officials said advances in technology have enabled non-invasive testing, adding that it has been validated by the Indian Council of Medical Research. “Under this pilot project, the aim is to conduct anaemia screening through these new non-invasive methods,” an official said.

Explaining the process, the official said the non-invasive method uses optical spectroscopy and AI algorithms to estimate haemoglobin levels without drawing blood. Patients place a finger on the device, which shines light through the fingertip and analyses the reflected light to deliver a result in about sixty seconds on a smartphone.

The device is a compact, portable unit that relies on optical spectroscopy paired with AI-based analysis to estimate haemoglobin levels. It claims an accuracy of about 93% in detecting haemoglobin concentration, supported by validation studies conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research. The system reads light absorption patterns through the fingertip and processes them through trained algorithms, offering near real-time results while maintaining a clinically acceptable error range, officials said.

“The non-invasive blood testing appears to confer multiple advantages over conventional invasive techniques, from enhanced comfort to greater acceptability due to avoidance of needle pricks and blood draws. It further would also help in reducing the probability of infection and complications typically associated with venipuncture procedures. This method could also be fast, portable and accessible for mass screening,” the minister said.

Officials said the survey protocol has been finalised, and screening is expected to begin next month. Children, adolescents and adults will be tested at schools and health centres. It will be the second such non-invasive survey after a similar exercise in Odisha. “Through this survey, we are also trying to compare existing data of haemoglobin deficiency in the population by non-invasive screening methods,” an official said.

The government has not disclosed the cost of deploying the non invasive screening devices, and officials said the project remains in the procurement stage. The department is in the process of securing the units from the supplier used in the Odisha pilot, but final purchase orders and budget allocations have not yet been detailed, they said.