DOCTOR APPS SPECIAL................. Mumbai docs launch apps to help patients track symptoms and beat check-up waits

Mumbai docs launch apps to help patients track symptoms and beat check-up waits     In 2012, Dr Shashank Akerkar’s clinic received a call from a 50-year-old patient battling lupus, who wanted to have the butterfly rash that had erupted on his hand checked. Because the consultant rheumatologist’s diary was chock-a-block for the next few days, the patient was given an option: Download Akerkar’s The Lupus App, upload pictures of the symptomatic rash, and wait for the doctor to get back on the treatment. “By the time the patient saw me, the rash had healed,” says Akerkar, who launched his app in October last year on World Arthritis Day in collaboration with Mumbaibased app developer ZK MediTechLabz. “Apps that help patients make a note of symptoms they are experiencing, and quickly take charge of the problem, were missing,” says Akerkar, who is one of the first city doctors to have developed his own medicare app. HE ISN’T ALONE In the last one year, several prominent names from the Mumbai medical fraternity have launched apps to disseminate authentic information and reach out to patients — most of who are smartphone-savvy — at a time when bagging an appointment with a specialist could take no less than a week. While general health apps (first aid, nutrition and calories count specific) have been around on app stores across mobile platforms, doctors are now recognising the need to assist specialised health ailments such as lupus, through a mobile phone. Lupus is a severe autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks healthy tissue resulting in swelling and pain in the joints, often leading to arthritis, and damage to the skin, kidneys, heart, and lungs. No two cases are alike, which makes an app that can track individual signs and symptoms such as skin lesions, an important medical intervention.     Currently available only on Android, The Lupus App will be available in iOS by the beginning of next year. Because lupus can stretch for years, Akerkar is going to add a ‘timeline’ feature that will help patients trace the development of symptoms over time. INDIA LOVES APPS According to a 2012 report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the mobile app industry in India is valued at Rs 1,804 crore. Avendus Capital, a financial services firm, estimates that it will touch Rs 2,700 crore by 2016. The report that was published in September reveals that smartphone users in India will grow from the current 67 million to 382 million by 2016. 3G subscriptions are expected to rise from 56 million to 266 million in 2016. Which means the app market will expand across all verticals from gaming to healthcare. IT DOES WHAT THE DOC WOULD “The time is right,” says Dr Shreepad Khedekar, a homeopath from Imperial Clinics at Dadar, who has treated tennis star Novak Djokovic and Serbian footballer Marko Pantelic for asthma and performance anxiety respectively. “We must realise the potential of the growing app market, and look to deliver patient-specific solutions.” Khedekar’s Expert System (KES), a free diagnostic app he launched in August for Android and iOS platforms, does exactly what the doctor would do — gather detailed information before zeroing in on the most suitable remedy. “You can surf the net, but it’s most likely that you’ll end up confused after reading material from various sources. An app is like carrying a doctor in your pocket,” he says.     Log in, identify the anatomical location of the symptom (central nervous system, digestive system, etc.), fill in a questionnaire that makes you classify your body type (lean, obese), state of mind (because homeopathy believes there is a psychological cause behind every physical ailment), libido, etc. Once the app is done collecting relevant information, it leads you to the remedy page that lists a host of remedies that suit your condition.     Khedekar took three years to develop his app through a collaboration with software firm Sigma Infotech, psychologist Priya Gokil, HOD, psychology, Kirti M Doongursee College, Dadar, and mathematicians from the University of Novi Sad in Serbia. “While my initial aim was to use it to teach my assistants how I diagnose and treat a patient, I realised that it could help patients identify and tackle minor issues such as hair fall, cold and fever,” shares Khedekar. ALL IN ONE PLACE And then, Dr Rahul Bajpai’s idea is to use an app to help catch one of the most rampant diseases affecting Indian women, early. With approximately, 1,00,000 cases of breast cancer detected in India every year, the regional head of HealthCare Global Enterprises, decided to launch HCG BCA, a breast cancer awareness app for both, Android and iOS platforms this February. “Till a few years ago, it was common among women aged 45 and above. Now, it’s down to women in their mid-30s. Smoking, drinking, inactivity and weight gain have contributed to the rise,” says Bajpai, who clarifies that while the app does not confirm the presence of a malignant tumour, it highlights abnormalities through videos and self-examination exercises.     “Breast cancer can be fought off if identified early. Most women don’t surf for information until symptoms actually appear. This is then, once source of concise information that could urge them to be more vigilant about signs,” he says. The app has been downloaded more than 500 times, mostly by users aged 35 or younger.  BANNED DRUGS ROSTER Deepika Bhandari, 29, assistant professor at the Institute of Forensic Science launched Banned Drugs in Sports (platform: Android; free) this August. While an administration assistant with the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) during the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi, she was part of a team testing athletes for banned substances. Rani Yadav, who competed in the women’s 20 km walk, tested positive for the banned anabolic agent 19-Norandrosterone. After the hearing, Commonwealth Games Federation president Michael Fennell said Yadav was unaware ‘how the substance had got into her system’.     Though she was suspended, it got Bhandari thinking how Indian athletes ‘unmindfully’ fall into the doping trap. “Most athletes are asked to take ‘health supplements’ by their coaches/ trainers. Rani did too. A majority of Indian coaches are themselves unaware of supplementary drugs which are banned as per international standards,” says Bhandari.     Early this year, she drafted a list of drugs prohibited by WADA and began researching how easily they were available in the Indian market with local trade names. After consulting over 70 chemists across Mumbai and Himachal Pradesh, she identified the trade name for most banned drugs and requested Kishor Dahiwadkar, technology expert with MSc in IT from Birla College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Kalyan, to put the data together for a mobile phone app.     “The app holds over 200 banned substances along with their local trade names. It’s handy,” she says. In three months since the launch, the app has had about 100 plus installs.  Ankit.AjmeraMM131112