“I was very close to my grandfather. When his health began to deteriorate, he was prescribed several medicines. Since he wasn’t highly educated, he found it difficult to read their names and would sometimes forget to take them on time. So, he was dependent on the rest of the family in this regard. He passed away last year, and his death created a big void in the family,” recalls 14-year-old Ritika, a Class 9 student of the Government Senior Secondary School Chauntra, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh.

Ritika, who joined the ATL at her school, partnered with Class 10 student, 16-year-old Anchila Thakur and innovated a smart medicine box, ‘Swasthya Saathi.’

“When our mentor, Sandeep Sir told us to make a list of problems that we observed around us, I couldn’t help but think about my grandfather again, and people like him, who were at the risk of skipping timely medication schedules. That is when the idea of creating Swasthya Saathi came to me.”

The team has created three different compartments in the box for medicines to be taken at different points of time, namely morning, noon and evening. They also installed LED lights and a buzzer in the box which is operated using an Arduino Nano microcontroller board. When it is time for the patient to take their medication, the LED light and buzzer in the respective compartment get activated and remind the user to take their medicine.

After visiting the Atal incubation Centre in Hyderabad and interacting with scientists and other experts, the team incorporated newer features like a real-time clock and added a vibratory motor and lithium batteries to turn it into a fullyfunctional model.

“After testing it locally, we are working on adding newer features like adding different coloured LED lights to denote the time of the day and installing a different alarm if the patient takes the wrong medication,” concludes Ritika.