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Bendigo Health has confirmed the eight participants on the Bendigo Health Accelerator (BHx) program, due to start next month.

The BHx program supports health start-up companies to gain advice on how their product could function in the real world of healthcare.

Launch Vic has funded the program which is the first of its kind in regional Victoria.

Some of the start-ups involved in our program plan to develop; toilet paper as a diagnostic tool for gut disorders, a disinfection system which can monitor disinfectant levels of particular areas within a hospital and a device to prevent needle use injuries.

Bendigo Health Chief Executive Officer Peter Faulkner said the program will have three participants from rural and regional Victoria, two of which are from the Loddon Mallee region.

“The program is designed to support start-ups to in providing access to the health laboratory that exists in a health service like Bendigo Health,” he said.

“Innovation is something the health industry has been pretty good at. We’re very much trying to support and stimulate innovation in the health industry.

“In the context of COVID-19, anything that helps us to do our work smarter, faster and safer is something we really welcome.

“We’re delighted to start the program.”

The BHx will run for 20-weeks and has adapted to a virtual delivery because of COVID-19, but will have a clinical immersion component towards the end of the program.

Ranjit Ahl, founder of Ecoblends Australia, hopes to use the BHx program to develop a prototype toilet paper that changes colour when it senses bad microbes.

The toilet paper could be used to detect gut disorders, medical conditions and possibly COVID-19, Mr Ahl said.

“There’s nothing stopping up from using toilet paper to detect COVID-19, the Australian government is trying to detect COVID-19 in sewage water as we speak, why do we need to go there when we can pick this up at home – that is our mission.”

More information on the BHx can be found here.