New Delhi: To be able to get alerts to take
their medicine would be a boon for senior citizens. So, inspired by the
problems faced by his grandmother, 17-year-old Aryaman Kunzru developed a
speaking mobile app that reminds the elderly to stick to their medicine-intake
routines.
Kunzru is a student in
12th grade at the Canadian International School in Hong Kong. “Dawai Dost is
designed to help our elderly. This app keeps track of their schedules and
reminds them to take their medicines,” said Kunzru.
Also, notably, since the
elderly have trouble using touch screen phones, the app gives out voice
notifications to remind them of their schedules. Currently, the app is
integrated with two langauges — Hindi and Tamil.
“This is certainly a
blessing for the senior citizens who may not be well-versed with English or are
more comfortable with the native tongue,” Kunzru told DNA. “There are helpful
audio tutorials for many of the screens, so that the users have an easy
voice-based instruction on what needs to be done at each stage of the date
entry.”
The user can take a photo
of the medicine packet with the cellphone camera or feed the information
manually, along with a specific time when it needs to be consumed. Once that is
done, the app will remind the user of when the medicines need to be taken, as
well as when they are approaching their expiry dates, via visual notifications
(text) and audio notifications (a voice message recorded in the local
language).
Being home to around 10.4
crore persons over the age of 60, India has a huge population of elderly people
with chronic diseases like dementia and memory loss, with nobody to look after
them. This leads to frequent lapses in consumption of medicines, or consumption
post expiry dates that then causes their condition to deteriorate further.
Kunzru extensively
researched various app stores to check for existing apps of this nature. While
there were a few health apps which helped fitness lovers at large to monitor
their daily habits, most of them were highly advanced. He identified the need
to bridge the gap that existed between the technological boom of today and
assistance for the older generation to maintain their medicine routine.
With no technical training
to lean on, Kunzru learnt how to build an app from scratch. He took online
courses, developed first version to be Android compatible and he tested it with
his family and friends to identify the snags. “I began development 18 months
ago. I completed my first version in June, after which I conducted a few
small-scale rounds of testing,” he said.
He even conducted a
trial-run with HelpAge India. The app is now available on Google Play Store for
public use.
Source: DNA-4th November,2017
