Scaling HealthTech in India – In Conversation with Arindam Sen, Founder of Heartnet

An Exclusive interview with Arindam Sen, Founder of Heartnet India, an IoT-based healthtech solution provider.

Heartnet India is revolutionizing cardiac care by deploying IoT-enabled diagnostics to rural communities. Founder Arindam Sen discusses closing the golden-hour treatment gap, scaling tele-cardiology, and making life-saving cardiac care accessible across underserved regions.

What inspired the founding of Heartnet India, and what does “Healthy Heart for All” mean to you personally?

Arindam Sen: The idea behind Heartnet came from seeing the same gap repeatedly: preventable cardiac risk was turning into emergency intervention because it was not being identified early enough.

My background has been in handling large data systems, and I started looking at how the same thinking could be applied to healthcare and preventive cardiology.

There was no single defining moment. It came from conversations with clinicians, seeing increasing cardiac incidents among younger adults, and recognising how limited early cardiac detection can be.

For me, “Healthy Heart for All” means making prevention a practical part of healthcare, not something people think about only after a cardiac event. It means taking cardiac screening closer to primary care, using data more effectively and connecting GPs with cardiologists when specialist input is required. The idea is simple: where a patient lives should not decide how early a heart problem is detected.

How does Heartnet’s IoT-based platform simplify early cardiac detection for healthcare providers?

Arindam Sen: Heartnet is designed to make cardiac screening easier at the primary care level. Instead of expecting every patient to visit a specialist for an initial assessment, GPs can use IoT-enabled diagnostic tools to collect relevant patient data, including ECG and other vital parameters.

The data can then be structured and shared through the telecardiology network for specialist review when required. This gives the GP an additional layer of clinical support without taking away their own judgement.

One important learning for us has been that technology has to fit into the doctor’s existing workflow. GPs were initially concerned about disruption, excessive data, and whether algorithms might replace clinical judgement.

The objective is therefore not to add another complicated technology layer. It is to give doctors and practitioners structured information and early risk indicators that can help them identify high-risk patients sooner and make timely referrals.

We addressed this through training, simplified dashboards and cardiologist-led data validation.

Why is empowering General Practitioners so crucial to solving India’s cardiac health crisis?

Arindam Sen: As per a recent report published in PubMed, India has fewer than five cardiologists per million people. This highlights a critical hurdle that has an impact on thousands of lives.

The GP is often the first doctor a patient meets. If we want to improve early cardiac detection in India, that first point of contact cannot be overlooked.

The problem is that early cardiac risk is not always obvious from symptoms alone. GPs need access to appropriate diagnostic tools, structured patient data, and specialist support when a case requires deeper evaluation.

At Heartnet, our approach is to make the GP a stronger part of the cardiac care network rather than trying to bypass primary care. IoT-enabled diagnostics, simplified dashboards, and access to cardiologists through telecardiology can give practitioners greater confidence in identifying high-risk cases.

We have also learned that adoption depends on trust. Technology works when it supports the doctor’s medical intuition rather than attempting to replace it.

Once the GP can screen, identify risk, and connect with a cardiologist through the same network, the pathway from screening to diagnosis, referral, and rehabilitation becomes much more connected.

How does your solution reduce the critical time gap between initial symptoms and specialist treatment?

Arindam Sen: The biggest delay often occurs between the first point of contact and access to specialist cardiac expertise. A patient may visit a local doctor, but the required specialist review may happen much later.

Heartnet addresses this by connecting primary care screening with telecardiology and specialist clinical oversight. Diagnostic information, including ECG and other relevant parameters, can be captured at the GP level and shared for cardiologist review.

This means the patient does not necessarily have to travel to a major hospital simply to get an initial specialist opinion. The GP can continue to manage the patient while the cardiologist provides guidance on whether further investigation or referral is required.

What specific infrastructure hurdles do you face when deploying IoT devices in semi-urban areas?

Arindam Sen: The biggest challenges are often quite practical. Connectivity, device synchronisation and fragmented electronic health records can make technology adoption difficult, particularly in semi-urban locations.

In the early stages, integrating multiple devices also involved a fair amount of manual reconciliation.

That added time to the workflow and made it clear that a solution designed for a large hospital cannot simply be taken into a smaller clinic without modification.

We therefore had to think about the advanced modifications with a different approach for future implementations and growth.

Data security is another important part of the equation. Healthcare data is sensitive, so trust cannot be treated as an afterthought. The technology has to be reliable not just when connectivity is good, but also when infrastructure is less predictable.

These experiences have reinforced an important point for us: healthcare technology has to be designed around the realities of the place where it will actually be used.

What business model allows Heartnet to remain financially sustainable while prioritising affordability?

Arindam Sen: Our approach is built around creating a scalable telecardiology network rather than making preventive cardiac care dependent on expensive specialist infrastructure.

However, the specific commercial structure of Heartnet’s business model is not detailed in the material provided, so I would avoid attributing a particular pricing or revenue model without further confirmation.

From a broader sustainability perspective, our focus is on building measurable healthcare outcomes rather than volume-driven growth.

The economics of preventive healthcare also need to evolve alongside the technology. Prevention cannot remain a slogan while reimbursement continues to favour intervention.

For Heartnet, affordability is balanced against scalability, clinical usefulness, and sustained uptake. My aim is to develop a system that can be used in all types of healthcare environments while maintaining early detection at its core.

What standards or clinical validations back the reliability of Heartnet’s diagnostic insights?

Arindam Sen: The reliability of the system comes from combining technology with clinical oversight, rather than treating an algorithmic output as a final diagnosis.

Heartnet’s diagnostic technology is supported by cardiologist review and validation of the data, while the system itself is designed to help practitioners identify abnormal findings and high-risk cases earlier. We have found that this combination is important for building confidence among GPs.

The platform brings together IoT-enabled diagnostics, connected devices, cloud computing and specialist clinical oversight.

AI and data analytics can support risk stratification, but they work best when a qualified clinician remains part of the decision-making process.

Our experience has also shown the importance of structured data. When patient vitals, ECGs, lifestyle predictors and family history are captured in a connected system, it becomes easier to identify patterns and flag abnormalities for remote cardiologist review.

So, for us, technology is not positioned as an independent diagnostic authority. It is a clinical support layer that helps practitioners act on information earlier and more systematically.

What message would you like to share with young entrepreneurs aiming to solve healthcare access in India?

Arindam Sen: Technology can only contribute to solving the problem in Healthcare. My advice would be to spend time with practitioners before building the product. Listen to what makes their work difficult and understand what they would actually use in a busy clinical setting.

At Heartnet, we learned that GPs were not necessarily resistant to technology; they were concerned about workflow disruption, data overload and losing the clinical perspective.

The other important point is to think about scale from the beginning, but not at the cost of clinical usefulness. India’s healthcare challenges are very different across cities, towns and rural areas.

Most importantly, build for the problem rather than for the technology. AI, IoT and data architecture are tools. The real objective should be better access, earlier detection, and better outcomes.

If the solution can make a meaningful difference for one patient and still work for thousands more, you are probably solving the right problem.

Arindam Sen’s vision proves that HealthTech thrives when accessibility meets rapid clinical utility. By connecting primary clinics with remote cardiologists via IoT, Heartnet India is transforming delayed diagnoses into early, life-saving interventions nationwide.

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