It’s not very common for a high school student to get sued by an American company but DPS RK Puram student, Shaurya Jain,is hardly someone who you’d call ‘common’. The robotics enthusiast and technical whiz kid, was recently in the limelight over copyright issues over the brand name of his brain child- ‘InstantMed Plus’, an exceptional mobile app that aims to digitize medical records for citizens across the country.
The 21st century is a digital age where everything is documented online, so it seems surprising that physical prescriptions are still in use and heavily relied on by medical professionals and patients alike. InstantMed Plus promises to resolve this by shifting all medical documentation onto a cloud that is easily accessible.
The journey to achieve this ambitious goal of ‘empowering every citizen with access to digital services, knowledge and information’ started in 2015. After several online courses on coding, experimentation with different designs and a little help from an older cousin, Shaurya released the app last year. The app allows users to create a searchable timeline by uploading previous prescriptions, vaccines and medical records. There is also an option of segregating illnesses by disease, medicines and symptoms, making it very comprehensive in nature. Shaurya states that the app is also ‘a great platform for linking curated articles on health and fitness from all around the web’, creating a forum for improved awareness. A user, Vaibhav Mishra comments, ‘the home remedies are quite helpful in some cases.’ Another customer, Vincent states how the app provides ‘tips and tricks for daily fitness (and) hygiene’.
InstantMed Plus takes privacy and consumer rights very seriously and has in place a strict policy regarding the data of users that is stored. Users are sent unique 6 digit codes protecting their identity and medical history, that can be shared with trusted sources.
Currently, the app is only user- based, however, with a few additional features, Shaurya envisions it to be used by medical professionals in the near future, helping doctors communicate prescriptions with their patients and reducing their carbon footprint by going paperless. Dr.SudhanshuKansal, a noted orthodontist at Vasant Vihar’sKansal’s Care and Cure has encouraged the app calling it ‘truly revolutionary’ that would ‘change the way patients around the world store and share medical records.’
Shaurya believes in perfection and the app has already been revised a few times. Further upgrades would include using Artificial intelligence, like that of assistants like Siri or Cortana. This would create a more personalised experience for users, such as enabling prescriptions to be read out to customers with special needs. Moreover, reminders could be set for ordering medicines or scheduling appointments that would make life easier for countless Indians, especially senior citizens. Shaurya strives to learn more about Artificial Intelligence and is preparing to graduate in Computer Science that would give him an edge to further develop his app.
InstantMed Plus is available on Google Play store currently, recording an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 and is soon to reach a 1000+ downloads. A desktop version is also available on the website