VirtuDoc

Decentralized data driven healthcare at your fingertips

Sub-saharan Africa has a critical shortage of healthcare workers that is one of the worst in the world. This is then compounded by the fact that region not only has one of the highest rates of diseases and mortality, but also a large segment of its population are unable to access basic health services. With an average of 0.25 physicians per 1,000 people the region has significantly less than 2.28 physicians and/or nurses per 1,000 people; the bare minimum required to deliver basic healthcare services.To put that in perspective, take into consideration that approximately 24% of the world’s disease burden is found in this region while having only 3% of its healthcare professionals to cope with this enormous problem. Furthermore there are more doctors in urban areas than in rural areas as well as more hospitals/clinics when compared to rural areas where roads are bad, and a lot of people live hours away from the nearest hospital/clinic.

Our solution to this is VirtuDoc. VirtuDoc is a decentralized healthcare platform that connects patients with doctors via their mobile devices. A patient creates a profile where they fill in their basic information and medical history as far as they know it. This profile is stored on a private blockchain and can be accessed with the patient's consent by any doctor or healthcare professional on the VirtuDoc platform. Doctors/nurses and other healthcare professionals can also join the platform and once their credentials have been verified, they set the day and time of their availability to assist the patients on the platform. When the patient falls sick, they can chat to a doctor/nurse on the platform and get a preliminary diagnosis and a community health-worker is dispatched to them with medication should it be required. While all this is happening our algorithms will be learning to diagnose common ailments, and the end goal is to have at least 50% of the diagnoses being done by the AI in the next 5 years.

This will change the world in that it will make not only give patients control of their medical records but it means that any doctor anywhere in the world can join this revolution and help to reduce the pressure on the overly burdened healthcare system in Sub-saharan Africa immediately. More than 100 million people's lives will be positively impacted by this.

The way in which we are combining use of AI and the blockchain is what makes our solution unique. The blockchain is primarily being used for storage of patient records, their medical history and any subsequent diagnoses that will occur on our platform. While we are using AI to make our platform smarter at diagnosing diseases and at detecting outbreaks in certain regions early.

Technology is at the heart of our solution, by combining use of AI and blockchain technology we are able to help us many people as possible regardless of where they are in the world by tapping into the various skills of healthcare professionals around the world. Something that would not be possible without the use of technology.

To pilot the solution, preferably in at least one rural community and to sign up at least 1000 patients and 2000 healthcare professionals.

Our vision is for VirtuDoc to be fully autonomous ie to have at least 50% of the diagnoses being done accurately by our algorithms and to have even these same algorithms control a fleet of drones that will deliver critical medical supplies such as medicine, as and when it's needed to the patient after a diagnosis has been given.

We will reach them via their mobile devices primarily and also through community healthworkers.

We are currently finalizing development of the platform.

We expect to start off with 1 000 people and 20 000 in the next 3 years.

We currently have 3 software developers who are experienced in working with building mobile apps, blockchain and AI. We also have a pharmacist and a marketing person on board. We also have advisors to help us on the business development front and with implementing blockchain technology successfully.

We intend to include a micro-medical aid scheme that patients will pay for through airtime deductions on their mobile devices. 

Through solve we can get access to a wider network of healthcare and technology professionals that can help us scale our solution globally. In addition the affiliation of Solve with MIT is a big plus that will enable us to potentially collaborate with researchers like the Medical Vision Group of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. Our hope is not just for a sharing of ideas but where possible to deploy some of the technology from CSAIL in our solution (eg AI powered imaging which would make disease detection much more efficient for community health workers )

Access to medical research that is key to training our algorithms. Through the solve partner network we hope we will be able to get access to this and make our algorithms smarter. In addition there is also the issue of connectivity, in some areas there is bad network reception and hence for the community health worker to have access to the app will have difficulty doing so. We also foresee red tape within government health departments, that are key to getting buy-in for scaling the app.