Soon, new app to help patients navigate Mumbai’s JJ Hospital

t will be available free of cost and will cover the out patient department (OPD) for the first phase of the project.

Sir JJ Hospital at Byculla, with six buildings and 45 wards spread across the 44-acre campus, may soon become easier to navigate. The hospital’s Medical Innovation and Creativity Entrepreneurship (MICE) laboratory is designing a mobile application-based interactive map of the hospital.

Sir JJ Hospital at Byculla has six buildings and 45 wards spread across the 44-acre campus (HT file)

The app, which will be developed using ‘augmented reality’ technology, will comprise a global positioning system (GPS) and voice instructions in Hindi and Marathi. It will be available free of cost and will cover the out patient department (OPD) for the first phase of the project.

“Patients’ relatives have to visit a number of different sections to complete the admission procedures as well as for diagnostic tests, such as MRI, CT Scan or X-Ray. They have to navigate through doctors cabins, blood bank and report collection centres. Many times, patients’ relatives struggle to find their way owing to the size of the campus,” said Dr Anirudhha Malpani, founder, MICE laboratory.

The pilot project was developed by a team of 200 second-year MBBS students, mentored by Krishnachaitanya Chitturi, mechanical engineer at Evobi Automation Private Limited. “Once the first phase is complete, we can identify glitches and improve them before making it fully functional,” Chitturi said.

According to Chitturi, network connectivity problems and inaibity to use bluetooth-based tracking points was a major challenge faced by the team while working on the app. “Eventually we came across experts who have designed various augmented reality interactive maps for theme parks across India. The experts who are helping us have agreed to do it free of charge, as the app will save patients’ lives by saving their time,” said Chitturi.

Meanwhile, Malpani said the hospital has more projects in store. “We are already in talks with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) professors and students to visit our OIT lab and work with medical students to come up with engineering solutions to medical problems. We have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone to work along similar lines and possibly send our medical students to work on problem-solving based start-up ventures,” Malapani said.