At least 400 million people do not have access to basic health services. Achieving universal health coverage is one of the goals set by the countries that adopted the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. Technology can be an ally in improving access to healthcare systems. This has been especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic where teleconsultations have prevailed over face-to-face medical care. In this context, knowing a patient's medical status remotely becomes key.
Through his technological start-up Netux, the young electronics engineer Sergio Marín produces technological solutions through the Internet of Things (IoT) aimed at healthcare centers to expand access to healthcare systems with real-time remote patient monitoring systems. For this breakthrough, Marín has been named one of MIT Technology Review in Spanish's Innovators Under 35 Latin America 2020.
Marín's initiative improves the safety, efficiency and quality of medical consultations through the development of hardware and software to monitor patients' vital signs. With Netux, he intends to bring these developments to the market and have an impact on society. "We are motivated by developing solutions to improve the well-being of communities. In Latin America, there is little technology in patient care," the young man explains.
Netux has built a unique platform that combines hardware, software and artificial intelligence devices to make the day-to-day running of healthcare systems much more efficient. In this way, Marín aims to reduce healthcare spending due to inefficiencies. The young man believes that "technology is the fundamental tool for making the world's healthcare systems sustainable." Preventive and remote patient monitoring also results in this efficiency and improved care.
The system also measures temperature and humidity in various areas of healthcare institutions. This ensures the cold chain of refrigerators, which is essential for vaccines and blood banks. In addition, Netux offers a shift management system to optimize service times and improve service. Netux also allows patients to request nursing services both from their bed and from the bathroom.
So far, Netux has developed more than 35,000 systems, reaches more than 250 healthcare companies and is expanding outside Colombia. Now, Marín intends to turn his platform into a standard to make Latin American healthcare systems more efficient.
The founder and CEO of HAG Consulting & Ventures and Startup Grind (Brazil), Rodrigo de Alvarenga, who is also a member of the Innovators under 35 Latin America 2020 jury, believes that Marín "has a very strong profile supported by a long history of trying and contributing to innovation in the field of IoT applied to medicine and medical equipment." The expert considers him an "excellent candidate."
