Diabetes Mellitus (DM) has become one of the maincauses of death in Indonesia. Indonesia has become the 7the country of the highest number of the DM patients in the world since 2014. The threat of this disease is very real. Death haunts the patients if it is not handled soon. If one has been diagnosed to have DM, he cannot be cured. He can only control his blood sugar level so that it can be sustained. Therefore, besides preventing it, the ability to control the blood sugar levelthat can indicate DM is important to have.
To the present time, the checking on blood sugar aimed at finding DM is conducted by using a digital deviceusing an invasive method. It makes some DM patients feel uncomfortable in checking the blood sugar. However, the checking should be taken routinely, particularly for those who have been indicated to have DM.
Pertaining to this, researchers from Telkom University (Tel-U) did some research to create a non-ivasive (requiring no puncturing of the skin) device used to measure the blood sugar. This study has passed the Prospective Technology Based Start-Up (Calon Perusahaan Pemula Berbasis Teknologi, CPPBT) scheme 2017 from the Ministry of Research Technology and Higher Education ( Kementerian Riset Teknologi dan Pendidikan Tinggi, Kemenristekdikti).
The device called as MyGlucobby consists of a hardware used to check the blood sugar in the arm and an android based application installed in smartphone in checking the records stating the blood sugar level of the partient that have been read by the device. This device modifies the use of oxymeter censor by using photodiode and infrared working principles. The censor reads the light intensity that can be influenced by the number of glucose molecules in the blood sugar. The censor is used at the tip of the patient’s finger that can ray some light. The patient’s finger radiated by the censor light can measure the intensity of red light of the blood then can be processed by the Arduino based microcontroller converted into the blood sugar level in milligram/deciliter. This system is integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) software in the form of an android based application via Bluetooth. Therefore, the record can be seen anytime.
Within the study, the device and application were tested to more than 300 people. The result shows that the device has a high accuracy to the patients with the blood sugar level of 0 – 250 mg/dl. However, this device has not been able to read the blood sugar level of those with a high level of blood sugar (> 400-500). Therefore, this device has not been able to replace the device used to be used by doctorsin checking the blood sugar as well as that in the laboratory. However, MyGlucoby can be used as the Early Warning Sysem (EWS) device for those who want to prevent DM.
Along the process, the prototype of MyGlucoby has been refined for five times so that it has finally reached the technology readiness level of 7. However, to be marketed to the public, MyGlucoby should pass a clinical test since it is required for a health device and certification test. Therefore, MyGlucoby is being clinically tested at Medical Laboratory of Health Science Academy of Rajawali (Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan Rajawali), Bandung.
MyGlucoby is one of the products targeted to be a part of ICT based healthy life style. It is because that in the era of IoT, people will do different things moreeasily by technological support like in shopping. It is also possible for those related to the health. This device can be used by doctors as thereferencein finding the patient record, particularly the one pertaining to DM.
The application can recently be freely downloaded at Google Playstore. However, the device cannot be freely accessed. For those who want to check the blood sugar and has their own record, they should use the device as well as the application.
Even With Imported Components, the Local Component Level (TKDN) Will Remain High
Recently, the CPPBT scheme research process has already been complete. However, the development of this product is still ongoing. Though this product has been targeted by the industry, i.e. when it is involved in several exhibitions, the researchers have not been willing to release the product to the market yet since it has not passed the clinical and circulation permit tests.
For the product and market validation purpose, the product has just been made into 5 protoypesusing the raw material of 3D printing casing and charged system battery. The plan to change the casing with plastic material still faces some problems including the high cost of molding that requires the minimum production size of 1,000 pieces. The development project of MyGlucoby will involve some different censorsadded to check the cholesterol in blood. In terms of legal matter, this product has been registered for the copy right, brand and the industrial design.
One of the regulations of Kemenristekdikti for CPPBT scheme is that the researchersare not allowed to buy a real product;they are only allowed tobuy the components for the device. It should also be followed by the researchers of MyGlucoby. Unfortunately, local censor componentsare still hard to find, so that they should by any means import it. However, the Local Component Level (Tingkat Komponen dalam Negeri, TKDN) of the product is still in the level of 80% compared to that of the imported component. Therefore, the reviewers for the Monitoring Evaluation do not take it as a problem, as long as the real product is without any doubtmade and programmed inside the country. It is because that some components including censor and microcontroller have only been available in other countries.
he public and industry, MyGlucoby has been involved in a mandatory exhibition, Innovator Innovation Indonesian Expo (Inovator Inovasi Indonesia Expo, I3E) 2017 in Surabaya, Bandung ICT Expo 2017 at TUCH Telkom University and Aperti BUMN Expo 2017. The socialization has also been carried out in the open table to check the blood sugar record of 100 respondents from Tel-U as well as from several health institutions like Community Health Centers (Puskesmas). If the product has passed the clinical test and certification test, it is not impossible to propose it to the PPBT scheme research that requires the product to be ready to be marketed.
Abstracted from an interview and a study entitled “Glucometer: Non-Ivasive Blood Sugar Meter” by Inung Wijayanto and MyGlucoby team.
