A P J Abdul Kalam asks for virtual lab to monitor health of fighter pilots

BANGALORE: Former President A P J Abdul Kalam wants India to develop a virtual laboratory to monitor the health of fighter pilots and provide online advice for improving combat effectiveness.

Delivering the Subroto Mukerjee Memorial oration organised by Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine ( ISAM) as part of its 52nd annual conference here, he referred to a write-up in an international journal which talked about how wireless and embedded technologies are about to transform healthcare.

It said sensors implanted in the body, in the living room, in the utility room are going to continuously monitor a person's health parameters such as detecting a fluid build in lungs and alert the personal doctor.

It checks vital signs regularly and helps to maintain the health of a person, and reduce medication. This means healthcare will become more affordable, accessible and improve in quality due to technology, the write-up said.

"IAM (Institute of Aerospace Medicine) should think of developing such systems as a part of virtual laboratory to monitor the health of the pilots on the simulator while varying 'G' conditions," Kalam said.

"This could be later extended to the pilots on the flight for physio-psychological tele-diagnostic and advisory alert system to monitor the overall health of the pilot and provide online advice for improving combat effectiveness," he added.