Mobile app to help monitor asymptomatic COVID-19 patients at home

An eight-member team of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) engaged in the fight against COVID-19 here is helping the city administration in fine-tuning the app, and the new features have been added on its suggestions.

Indore, which is one the worst hit by COVID-19 in the country, has so far reported a total of 1,681 cases of the disease and 81 deaths, as per official figures.

"The app is already being used by lakhs of people in Indore since quite some time, but the new features added to it will be available only to the asymptomatic COVID-19 patients who have been advised by the health department to get treatment while remaining home isolation," IMA team member Dr Subodh Chaturvedi told PTI.

Such patients are being provided a pulse oximeter which would help in monitoring their oxygen level and pulse rate at home, he said.

Based on a pre-loaded questionnaire on the app, the patient or his caregiver will have to daily upload information, like if he has fever over 101 degree Fahrenheit and breathing problems. The patient will also have to answer certain other questions based on common symptoms of COVID-19," Chaturvedi said.

Doctors deputed at the IMA control room while constantly monitor the information provided by the patient and provide consultation accordingly. If required, the rapid response teams will shift the patient to hospital, he said.

A patient or his caregiver can also press the red button available on the app to seek medical help in case of an emergency, he said.

"If a patient does not follow the medical advice and steps out 100 metres away from his house, an alarm would ring at the IMA control room and the patient would be tracked through GPS and sent back home," the official said.

Indore's chief medical and health officer Praveen Jadia said as per the government's new guidelines, the asymptomatic COVID-19 patients are being advised to stay in home isolation.

A caregiver is also being deputed for such patient to get medicines for them. The caregiver would also monitor the health of a patient regularly and inform the health department about his condition. Based on the information, authorities would decided whether the patient needs to be hospitalised, he said.