An incident on the highway triggered Amr El-Hossary, a Physician and Co-Founder of Pulse, to establish his startup. On that day, he saw someone lying in the street, while the people surrounding him failed to help him. The ambulance was late and he died instantly.
The incident made El-Hossary wonder if there is a way to connect doctors and patients remotely to save people’s lives. Since then, he started working alongside year his friend, dr. Mohamed Fatehy, on their project Pulse.
Pulse is an Egyptian device, smaller than a palm, which can tell people all about their heart status and more. Launched in 2014, the wearable device can measure important health vitals, including full heart cardiogram, blood pressure, skin temperature, heart rate, and the percentage of blood saturation with oxygen for people who suffer from dyspnea.
Using highly advanced technology, the wearable device processes the collected data and analyzes it to send notifications on an app to doctors and patients. It alerts them about if there are any signs that a heart attack is predicted or if there are other risks.
“Pulse’s tagline is ‘when time means life’. I want medical service to move to the patient’s home, and as a result, reduce the queues at hospitals.”
Kareem Fatehy, CEO and Co-Founder, Pulse told WAYA
The device can operate in hospitals, ambulances, homes, or at remote areas, where there is a shortage of doctors.
“40% of Egyptians die because of heart and blood vessel diseases. These devices help patients who faint for no apparent reason, or get heart palpitations, but by the time they get a check up, we cannot detect a reason,” Dr. Hany Ragy, Consultant Cardiologist, the National Heart Institute said to WAYA.
Ragy mentioned a story of a patient, who took one of these devices from the institute and hasn’t returned again. After 3 months, his son has come to the institute, saying that the device was found besides his father when he died.
After doctors there have checked it, they discovered some kind of heart strokes preceding death. Every time he fainted, he suffered the same, had he worn the device, he may still have been alive today.
Being completely manufactured by Egyptian hands, Pulse team managed to get a patent from the Scientific Research Academy in 2008 and has been recognized by Oracle’s Duke’s Award as one of the world’s top 10 apps in 2010.
Moreover, it has claimed many other awards, including the gold medal in the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva in 2015.
The startup sell its devices to governmental and private hospitals, including DR. Magdi Yacoub hospital in Aswan.
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