Website created by Mumbai teen aids illiterate individuals in navigating medical treatments: Explains its operation
In a groundbreaking development, a 17-year-old named Som Sengupta has created KnowUrMedicine, a web app designed to make medicine information accessible to India's less literate populations. The app, which operates entirely in the cloud, uses AI, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and Text-to-Speech (TTS) to deliver medicine details in languages like Hindi and Marathi.
The OCR system, the app's backbone and Som's proudest achievement, accurately extracts dosage, side effects, and other details from diverse medicine packaging through image processing uploaded by users. For AI translation, a simplified approach based on ChatGPT's API was used, ensuring efficient, scalable, and fast translation of medical information into regional languages.
The TTS component automatically plays the translated text aloud, making the medicine information accessible to those who cannot or prefer not to read. This streamlined integration of OCR, AI translation, and TTS overcame accuracy, usability, and data privacy challenges, enabling vernacular-speaking and less literate populations in India to access critical medicine information effectively.
The frontend was optimized for mobile browsers with a clean interface allowing users to scan a QR code, select their language, and upload an image effortlessly. By keeping all processing in the cloud without storing user data, the app maintains user privacy and scalability.
During development, Som collaborated with over 20 healthcare professionals and 3-4 chemists for real-world feedback. The app cross-references extracted data with online sources to verify details, ensuring reliability.
Initially, the TTS module had issues with sounding robotic, particularly in Hindi and Marathi. However, Som used a modified version of Google Voice to iterate and achieve a conversational tone for the TTS module. The Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system was also refined through iterative testing and field tests with over 200 customers, improving its accuracy.
A study shows that 45% of patients misinterpret dosage or frequency without native-language instructions, posing health risks. KnowUrMedicine addresses this issue by providing medicine information in the user's native language, reducing the risk of misinterpretation.
Despite facing challenges in mastering FastAPI and AI integration during development, Som Sengupta has successfully developed a solution that could potentially revolutionize the way medicine information is accessed in India.
[1] Source: KnowUrMedicine Official Website and Interviews with the Developer.
- Science and technology have been employed to address healthcare challenges in India, with the creation of KnowUrMedicine, a web app that simplifies medicine information access.
- Smartphones have played a significant role in this development, as the platform operates exclusively on mobile browsers.
- Reflecting the app's mission for workplace-wellness, Som Sengupta, the 17-year-old developer, aims to improve the health of less literate Indian populations.
- Chronic diseases, medical conditions, and even respiratory and digestive health can benefit from increased accessibility to medicine information, a goal that KnowUrMedicine seeks to accomplish.
- Eye-health, hearing, and skin-care are also areas where the app could potentially make a difference.
- An important aspect of this app is its focus on health-and-wellness, which extends to sexual-health and autoimmune-disorders as well.
- The app's features include Optical Character Recognition (OCR), AI translation, and Text-to-Speech (TTS), which work together to deliver medicine details in various regional Indian languages.
- Climate change and its effects on the environment are contributing factors to rising incidents of chronic diseases, and knowledge about medication could prove vital in minimizing their impact.
- The manufacturing industry plays a role in ensuring medicine packaging can be accurately scanned by KnowUrMedicine's OCR system for maximum effectiveness.
- Mental-health, men's-health, and womens-health are critical components of overall health, and the app is designed to cater to all, encouraging a holistic approach to health-and-wellness.
- Fitness-and-exercise, nutrition, and aging are interconnected aspects of well-being that the app indirectly supports by bolstering medicine understanding.
- The app's impact on parenting is significant, as it helps in managing the health of children and elderly family members.
- Weight-management, skin-care, and cardiovascular-health are health concerns addressed by KnowUrMedicine's accessible medicine information.
- Therapies-and-treatments for various medical conditions are more effective when the patient fully understands their medication, a scenario that KnowUrMedicine facilitates.
- A recent study found that 45% of patients misinterpret dosage or frequency without native-language instructions, a risk that KnowUrMedicine mitigates by providing medicine details in the user's native language.
- The app's success story has been documented on the KnowUrMedicine Official Website and interviews with the developer, demonstrating its potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry in India.
- As the app relies on AI, finance, energy, and technological advancements are crucial for its ongoing operations and scaling.
- The app's integration with fintech enables it to be monetized, making it sustainable for long-term growth.
- During the development phase, Som collaborated with healthcare professionals, chemists, and industry experts for feedback, ensuring the app's accuracy and reliability.
- Overcoming challenges in mastering FastAPI and AI integration, Som managed to build a streamlined solution that caters to millions of Indians seeking easier access to critical medicine information.
- Neurological-disorders, cancer, and age-related diseases are complex medical conditions that KnowUrMedicine may assist in handling, given its ability to deliver detailed medicine information in regional languages.
- By addressing medicine information accessibility, the app plays a vital role in promoting overall health-and-wellness for less literate populations, which contributes to social equity and justice.
- The app's success paves the way for innovation in retail, entrepreneurship, transportation, leadership, and small-business, further disrupting traditional healthcare practices and fostering a more inclusive society.
