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A magic chair that predicts your health in eight minutes

Dubai - You no longer need to wait for a nurse to check your blood pressure, read the results and then explain how stressed or not you are.

A self-check full health report in less than eight minutes just by sitting on a chair is the future of healthcare in the UAE.
You no longer need to wait for a nurse to check your blood pressure, read the results and then explain how stressed or not you are. With the Automated Assessment Chairs (AAC) that are already in place at the Dubai Health Authority's (DHA) primary health care centres (PHC), an instant health check is now possible.
Manoj Menon, head of the Dubai Innovation Centre and chief information officer of the technology department of SpotCheck, is the man behind the new technology that has been made in the UAE. "The results are 98.2 per cent accurate," said Manoj in an interview with Khaleej Times.
The AAC - health screening chair - is available to all walk-in customers at Al Barsha and Nad Al Hammar PHCs. The health authority is planning to place the chairs in all other health centres and soon will be expanded to other government entities. Twelve chairs are already in use, many of which are being used in corporate settings.
The process is non-invasive and people can perform the standard screening themselves within minutes and print a detailed report.
The chair uses a non-invasive technology through infrared rays and screens a range of disorders such as blood pressure, heart rate (stress rate) and also analyses blood circulation as well as body composition analysis. The system uses the Emirates ID card to add details of the patients and gives the results based on the age and weight measured through the distortion-free technology and a weighing scale placed under the seat.
Health trivia on a side screen keeps the patient occupied while the results are being readied for printing.
"This is really beneficial in cases where doctors prescribe medical tests in big hospitals, especially in an emergency, where patients usually wait for the results for several hours," said Manoj. 
All parameters are described in the results that are printed out and described in an easy way for a layman to understand. 
"It's an easy and comfortable to use medical technology," he said. "Though similar technologies are available, they measure using electric impedance which is likely to give conflicting results," he added. 
Manoj, who invented the technology and patented it, said the idea for the chair was initiated in 2006. "Two years later and a lot of studies went into the making of the chair," he said.
The material for the chair is FDA approved and imported from different parts of the world. "We use an algorithm that has been approved by the WHO and CDC," said Manoj who is currently developing many other medical technologies.
Currently, the chair is feasible for use for people aged18 and above. "Children are fidgety and finger scanning for them may not give accurate results," he said. However, tests are being done for specific chairs for children.
The company focuses on wellness in corporate and school setting. "This is outside hospital care.we want people to get engaged and improve their health," said Manoj. Alongside the AAC, the company has set up a wellness app for registered users, mainly corporate.
"The results from the AAC predict which direction an individual's health is going and what they can do take corrective measures by changing their lifestyle."
asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com