Value Add

Ashva: Digitising Healthcare

The company has obtained US FDA clearance for their Edge PACS solution

Focusing on healthcare, Chennai based Ashva Technologies Limited has emerged as a premiere name in Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS). Frost & Sullivan report in 2007 has quoted Ashva as one of the top five PACS companies in India. Ashva made its beginning in 2004 as an IT company with its development in Chennai and marketing offices in Malaysia and USA. "We wanted to be more specific in our segment. We decided to concentrate on data archiving," says Sunder Natrajan, CEO, Ashva Technologies. Today, the 29 member team provides digital solutions in the area of Radiology Information System (RIS), business process management solutions and workflow integration solutions.

Why Digital Archiving?

"The future lies in IT," says Natrajan. Hospitals prefer to go paperless and filmless. Data archiving is picking up gradually in India. Digital records score over manual records. Data is readily available at the modality end. It can be easily retrieved. "Initially, many hospitals were hesitant in taking PACS because of high prices," admits Natrajan. However, the trend is now changing. The prices are coming down and more hospitals and diagnostic centres are moving towards digital records. "Adopting IT has intangible benefits. It increases the productivity and has an impact on the workflow," says Natrajan.

Product Profile

"We are concentrating on providing software solution for medical radiology," says Natrajan. The radiology solutions include PACS, Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) workstation and DICOM media distribution. Ashva has entered into strategic partnership with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and re-sellers. The company provides software solution as a built-in package to these equipment. It also offers customised solution for business process management in healthcare sector. Ashva has lined up a bunch of accessories that extend the func tionality spectrum and interface in any PACS environment. These include DICOM converter, DICOM viewer, work-list generator and DICOM to 'jpg' converter. It also offers ultrasound image management solution and endoscopy image management solution.

FDA Clearance

The company has announced that the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the 'Edge PACS' solution for marketing in the US. All of the 'Edge PACS' components including server, web viewer and DICOM workstation have been awarded FDA 510(k).

Edge PACS has received FDA 510(k) clearance for diagnostic viewing and manipulating medical images. The Edge PACS can be fully integrated with an institution's existing HIS or RIS providing access to reports for fully integrated electronic patient records. Ashva's Edge PACS demands minimal investment and its scalability enables the user to enjoy current needs and adapts to future requirements. Ashva has a collaborative/ flexible approach towards installation and training thus enabling easier transition for customers. Ashva provides remote log-in for troubleshooting and frequent customer based product upgrades. Natrajan says, "FDA 510(k) approval of the Edge PACS demonstrates Ashva's commitment to provide high quality products, developed under a stringent quality management system, for the benefit of our partners' product development and end user's ease of use."

Future Plans

Ashva plans to launch Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in the future. "We will be concentrating on the security, technology and law to ensure that the data is safe," says Natrajan. The company is also working on the 'briefcase idea,' where data can be sorted and made portable, just like how one would take the necessary things in a briefcase. Ashva has established its presence over these years. It expects to head towards a massive growth in the coming years.