Traack

One of the roadblocks in providing rapid response during pandemic situation is the gap between the number of infected people and the supplies hospital has. Due to this, doctors are forced to decide whom to save. What if the hospital where patient is getting treated is out of supplies but another hospital which is just 2 miles away has an additional ICU bed or a ventilator. We can save a life. My idea is to build an app to track supplies of these essentials across the boundaries of hospitals. This app will also make use of ML to predict the possible need in near future. IoT sensors can be used to reduce manual counting of supplies reducing additional work load. This app will also provide an easy way to request and donate these supplies. This app has only one motive - Let's save some lives 

Only with COVID-19 situation, there are more than 2.5 million people suffering all over the globe and the number is increasing daily. There are 800 thousand people only in USA. The problem I am trying to solve it global and not related to any geography. It's for human race, for all of us. Providing rapid response is critical factor in saving a life and each life is important. We have to fight and win this war against viruses like COVID-19 together. There is no one country, state, city or hospital which needs to fight this. We all are one team. If we share the list of essential supplies across the boundaries of hospitals then we can save a life. Remember that one ICU bed, one ventilator, one PPE can make a significant impact. The app I am developing can be deployed and used globally 

My solution is to build a simple mobile app to track the supplies across the boundaries of hospitals. You can simply login and check which hospitals are having supplies that you are looking for. If your patient needs a ventilator and your hospital doesn't have it, you can login to see nearby hospitals which has it and we will be able to save a life. This App will get your current location and suggest you nearby hospitals. It also provides a google map for easy and quick navigation. You can add your hospitals and track supplies with a very simple to use interface which won't need any training. Machine Learning algorithm can be used to predict the supply need. You can request and donate PPEs using this app. IoT sensors can be used to track some of the equipments easily without human interaction.Technologies I have used are Flutter for mobile app development, ML for prediction, IoT sensors for tracking some of the supplies, firebase as back end database 

I read an article during COVID-19 in NY times that soon doctors will be forced to take a decision on who can receive a medical treatment due to the gap between number of patients and the supplies they have. This news was really heartbreaking and raised many questions in my mind. I realized that the current systems have put strong boundaries between hospitals and each hospital is fighting this battle separately which is not going to work. We all need to unite if we need to win. My solution (App) won't solve the entire problem but will serve as an effective tool for entire humanity during pandemic situation. This app will give a handy and easy tool which will help them during our fight with pandemic. This will help hospitals to understand which other hospitals have the supplies they need and they can take a better decision to move the patient there to save a life. 

My app will serve as an easy tool which can be used by hospitals to respond effectively during pandemic situations. Targeted users of this app are hospitals and medical staff and entire humanity will be benefited. One of the critical factors in ensuring success during pandemics is to control the spread. In order to control the spread, it's very important to ensure affected people are getting right medical treatment on time. With this app, we will make sure that we are optimally using all the supplies we have across the hospitals which may result in controlling the pandemic  

I am focusing on process innovation using existing technologies. Innovation is in the way we currently operate and fight during pandemic situations. This app make use of streaming database which help us to post the data changes to users without needing them to logout or refresh. Use of Machine learning algorithms to predict the probable need of supplies and using IoT sensors to track the supplies make this solution innovative and unique

1. Flutter for mobile app development 
2. Firebase for server-less database
3. Machine Learning regression models for prediction 
4. Raspberry-pi as IoT sensors for tracking supplies 

My app uses existing technologies which are proven platforms. Here are some of the links to these platforms 

1. https://flutter.dev/ - Flutter 

With use of this app, hospitals won't be limited to the supplies they have to fight against pandemic. They won't be limited with the tools. They won't be alone. I am talking about uniting all the hospitals and consolidating the supplies to ensure we win this battle. Saving each life counts and is extremely important. Currently when a person needs a medical help, we route him / her to nearest hospital. This works in normal situations but not during pandemic. Routing to hospitals where there are supplies will increase the rate of our success. Easy interface for requesting and donating PPEs saves time and takes off the administrative headache.  

This app is still in development phase. I am developing it alone for community during evenings and weekends and hence currently there are no users. Since this app will be used during pandemic situations, I am planning to roll it out quickly to help COVID-19 situation. 

Here are my goals - 

1. I want to develop this app free of charge for community. 
2. Once I develop critical features of this app, I will try to reach higher leadership in my current organizations to see if they can donate it to some NPOs / hospitals as pro-bono work 
3. I am planning to reach some hospitals in India as well to see if they want to use it

The main barrier is about reaching to hospitals. Maintaining the correct data is extremely important for the success of this app and needs to be directed by hospital management. Contribution from all the hospitals is also very important to get the data. The biggest problem I need to solve right now is not the technology but marketing the platform infront of right people. I feel MIT Solve platform will be very effective and will help us to remove this barrier

1. Marketing solution using multiple social media platforms 
2. Submitting solution in Hackathons / MIT Solve challenges 
3. Reaching out to leadership team to see if they can donate this work to NPO / NGOs who can reach to hospitals 

Currently I am the only one in team. I am developing this app for community in my free time. I do have a full time job and I won't be able to start my own business with this work. If this idea gets selected and if people see potential in it, I will search for a NPO and will donate this work free of charge. I would still be involved to make sure the NPO gets all the technical help. I am also planning to check with my current employer to see if they want to donate this pro-bono work

One - Myself

With 16+ years of experience in IT industry, I am sure that I can develop this end to end app. I have already completed 70% of the app and the video recording of the demo is available at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEL5LEHoB90&t=3s

None

If this idea picks up and multiple hospitals enroll in this initiative, I may need some financial help to keep this app up and running. Since I am the only one developing this app and as I am doing it for community, I have no plans to earn profit out of it. Depending on the number of users, I am planning to reach big corporate like Deloitte, Google etc. to see if they can provide financial support for the app. 

1. With help from my existing employer 
2. With help from other big corporate like Google  

I always wanted to do something for community for the people in need. With the technical experience I have acquired during these years, I am confident that I can contribute and help solving some of the real world challenges. I am not looking for a monetary benefits, at least from this app and just want to help. COVID-19 has changed our definition of life, it has impacted the way we live, the way we operate. The world we are in right now is not the world we imagined 6 months back. With the skills I have, building a technology solution to help solving a problem is the least I can do. What will I get if my solution is selected? I will get satisfaction and will feel that all those evenings and nights I have spent for last 4 weeks are worth. I will feel more satisfied if I see people using it and using this app as a tool in our battle against pandemics

Success of this app resides in the number of people use it. Reaching to larger group and geographies is the only criteria for success. Hence I need some help in marketing, providing exposure to this app

1. MIT Initiative 
2. Deloitte / Google 
3. Hospital chains