MedifreeDigital mobile app launched for integrated and paperless healthcare services

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, October 25

A team of doctors has developed a mobile application that will provide digital, integrated and paperless healthcare services anywhere in India.

A press release said that MedifreeDigital , a completely  `Made in India’ healthcare mobile app that aims at making the medical profession paperless by providing to the patients integrated services of doctors, laboratories/diagnostic centres and chemists/pharmacists digitally. It is the first of its kind application that brings doctors, pharmacists/ patients and diagnostic centres on a single platform unlike most others applications, the release said.

The App is a comprehensive platform where allopathic, ayurvedic and homoeopathic doctors can all register and have access to complete medical records of the registered patients, though only with the consent of the patient.

“It is a platform where every user works independently but in an integrated manner,’’ says Kota-based Dr P. Chatter, one of the founder-Director. “While we strongly believe that every patient must visit a doctor for physical examination at least once because human touch is essential in medical sciences, however, for minor ailments such as cough and cold, online consultation is advised, he adds. It is convenient for the patients as he saves time and money by eliminating visits to doctors, chemists and even diagnostic centres, if required,’’ he added.

MedifreeDigital is a neutral platform as it does not promote any healthcare service provider – meaning it will not rate or recommend any doctor, laboratory or a chemist to the patient–it will be the patient’s decision to select the service provider either those registered on the App or of their own choice.

To make the functioning transparent, MedifreeDigital App provides videos showing advantages of registering for the practitioners, patients, laboratories and chemists even before registration. All videos are available on Medifree YouTube channel also. A healthy person can also register on the App and keep his/her medical records as the App provides 12MB space free for the purpose. The App can be downloaded from Google Playstore and an iOS version would also be available soon.

Registered patients will receive prescriptions via app to app message, email and SMS while and unregistered will receive it via email and SMS. For enhanced privacy, Medifree uses world’s most reliable Amazon Web Server (AWS), yet the services of Medifree are free of cost for all patients though healthcare service providers will continue to collect their charges/fee as before.

It is a contactless system for various services thereby eliminating the risk of various communicable diseases such as Coronavirus, Swine flu and even hospital acquired secondary infection. “The facility has a huge global potential and can be a boon for medical tourism and can become one world healthcare on mobile,’’ says New Delhi-based co-Director Dr Poonam Bazaz. Working on paperless healthcare mobile app at MedifreeDigital Mobile App is more convenient than USA where it is based on computers, she adds.

The doctors will write the prescription on the mobile which is easier and clearer. They need to write only once which is always autosaved in their individual master database. Patients need not travel to metros or big cities for second opinion as they can use paid mobile consultation call facility and the doctor can see their medical records on the mobile phone itself. The diagnostic centres and chemists can offer additional services to those who come via the App. 

India has more than 12 lakh allopathy, 2.5 lakh dental and 9 lakh AYUSH registered doctors treating more than 1.5 crore patients daily. This also includes services of 1.5 lakh pathology laboratories and diagnostic centres and 8 lakh registered chemist.

The United States of America has one of the most advanced computer-based paperless healthcare ecosystems in the world having digital health data of every citizen. The Americas spend 18% of their GDP on healthcare services whereas India, with four times the population, spends only about 2% for the same.