Treatment made easier for tuberculosis patients
2
MINS READ
Perpetually Adaptive Enterprise
At TCS, we don’t just help businesses transform. We help them become perpetually adaptive enterprises, built to evolve continuously and confidently in a world of constant change.
- Banking
- Capital Markets
- Consumer Packaged Goods and Distribution
- Communications, Media, and Information Services
- Education
- Energy, Resources, and Utilities
- Healthcare
- High Tech
- Insurance
- Life Sciences
- Manufacturing
- Public Services
- Retail
- Travel and Logistics
- Artificial Intelligence and Data & Analytics
- Cloud
- Cognitive Business Operations
- Consulting
- Cybersecurity
- Enterprise Solutions
- IoT and Digital Engineering
- Network Solutions and Services
- Sustainability Services
- TCS Interactive
Perpetually Adaptive Enterprise
Industries
expand here
Services
expand here
Products and Platforms
expand here
Research & Innovation
expand here
About Us
We deliver excellence and create value for customers and communities - everyday. With the best talent and the latest technology we help customers turn complexity into opportunities and create meaningful change.
TCS Insights
Point of views, research, studies - on the latest themes - to help you expand your knowledge and be future ready.
Recent recognitions
View allWant to be a global change-maker? Join our team.
At TCS, we believe exceptional work begins with hiring, celebrating and nurturing the best people — from all walks of life.
Want to be a global change-maker? Join our team.
India
expand here
Americas
expand here
Asia Pacific
expand here
Europe and UK
expand here
Middle East and Africa
expand here
Management Commentary
expand here
Financials
expand here
News and Events
expand here
ESG
expand here
Resources
expand here
Top Results
Showing
10
01 - 07
You have these already downloaded
We have sent you a copy of the report to your email again.
what we do
TCS Pace
This will open an overlay
TCS Pace™: Speedier Digital Transformation & Innovation in Business
TCS Pace™ brings the best of TCS innovation, helping businesses explore emerging technologies & define their innovation strategy for better outcomes. Know more.
Related Insights
Developed with Insper, the center in Brazil will utilize AI innovation and advanced technologies to address challenges and drive sustainable economic growth.
Article
26 Nov 2025
With a sustainable and innovation-first approach, TCS Pace Studio Riyadh is designed to help Middle East and Africa customers become future-ready. Learn more.
Article
08 Aug 2025
The Amsterdam hub enables the clients to adapt to digital disruptions and experience the power of innovation for a seamless digital transformation. Learn more.
Solution
24 Jun 2022
Highlights
The IoT-based pill dispenser, TMEAD, adheres to the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP)—which is critical to stall the spread of the disease.
Based on the time of the previous dose, the IoT-based device follows an escalation matrix to alert caregivers, health workers, and eventually, the district administration.
In this article
Back to top
Go to top
In this articleinpage
Go to top
The rising tuberculosis-related mortality rate
Tuberculosis (TB) is fatal disease with a high death rate in India and fighting it requires consuming medicines with time-bound precision. Consuming treatment drug(s) erratically, leads to the disease progresses to an even more challenging drug-resistant stage.
In 2016 alone, India saw nearly 423,000 deaths due to TB, with disease incidence being seven times that figure—the highest in the world. Despite its best efforts, the country is struggling to make a dent in TB morbidity statistics, with one of the main reasons being the lack of treatment adherence.
A team groomed by TCS’ Digital Impact Square (DISQ) has brought some respite to TB patients by building a fully indigenous, scale ready IoT-based pill dispenser, called TMEAD, to enhance adherence outcomes and provide prioritized attention to healthcare workers.
The device built by Nishad Halkarni and Rahul Doshi, product developers from the DISQ team, adheres to the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP)—a critical initiative to stall the spread of the disease—and improves the dosage and monitors the process involved.
Innovation through automation
NTEP depends on manual pill dispensing for compliance and recording of treatment procedures, and it was observed that the information gathered about treatment adherence was often unreliable and open to manipulation. Since tracking and preventing missed doses is crucial to the treatment, the team designed TMEAD to be able to alert patients to take their medicines.
Depending on how long it has been since the last dose, the device follows an escalation matrix to alert caregivers, health workers, and eventually, the district administration. Apart from regime monitoring and avoiding interruptions in treatment, this solution also helps map disease analytics in real time.
Acceptance and results
The TMEAD team has secured a grant from the India Health Fund to run a multi-state pilot, covering around 800 of drug sensitive and drug resistant patients across the Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. They are also undergoing clinical validation trial from the Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar.
Of course, this task was not without its challenges, starting from the fact that the pills in the dispenser need to be tamper-proof and blister packed, and should last a fortnight at least so that patients don’t have to keep travelling for refills. The device also needed to pack in enough battery power for a month, while still blending in at the patients’ homes to prevent further stigma.
Making the pill dispenser available in other regions
So far, both the patient response to the device as well as general treatment adherence has been good. With the district administration impressed with the results from the pilot phase, the team is now working to make the device available across the western India region, including Nashik, Wardha, Thane, and Ahmedabad Urban and Rural.
Related reading
1/4
TCS Pace
TCS Pace Port™ São Paulo: Driving Economic Growth with AI Innovation
Article
|
26 Nov 2025
Opens in new tab
2/4
TCS Pace
Middle East and Africa
TCS Pace Studio Riyadh: Innovating at Scale in the MEA
Article
|
08 Aug 2025
Opens in new tab
3/4
TCS Pace
TCS Pace Port™ Singapore: Powering Innovation Across Asia-Pacific
Article
|
03 Jul 2025
Opens in new tab
4/4
TCS Pace
Transforming IT Support with an AI-first Global Service Desk
video
|
14 Apr 2025
Opens in new tab
What’s on your mind?
We’re here to help! Tell us what you’re looking for and we’ll get you connected to the right people.
Looking for something else?