Docty targets to set up 100 telehealth kiosks in three Indian states

Telehealth firm Docty has disclosed its plan to open 100 digital health kiosks across the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra over the next six months.

The company aims to improve healthcare access in rural and impoverished urban communities through its Gali Gali Mein Digital Clinic initiative, which currently operates in over 20 locations.

Aiming to launch in 100 more sites, Docty has partnered with over a hundred offline stores, local pharmacies, photo-copy centres, and internet cafes to launch its kiosks where patients can access online consultations with doctors and receive prescriptions. The kiosks also offer discounted medicines and lab services. 

According to a news report, its strategy is to set up its kiosks every three kilometres in cities and five km. in villages, targetting high-density areas.

Rural India currently lacks qualified professionals, digital infrastructure, and technology literacy to support digital health, according to Docty co-founder Ramya Subramanian. 

In order to deliver the benefits of digital health to people living in such areas, Docty has acknowledged the need to establish local support centres through a one-stop integrated platform.

"Additionally, Docty’s digital health kiosks will also be significant in reducing digital illiteracy in India," Subramanian added.

By next year, Docty aims to further expand its digital health kiosks in three more states, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. It has an ambitious target of reaching 65% of the Indian population by 2025.

IVF clinic FertilTree adopts Embryonics' AI tool for embryo selection

FertilTree-Jaslok International Fertility Centre, a fertility clinic based in Mumbai, India, has partnered with Israeli firm Embryonics to adopt its AI assistive tool for embryo selection.

Embryonics' UBAR assists embryologists in a highly subjective decision-making step in the IVF process. It is a cloud-based software that uses time-lapse videos or single images of blastocysts to predict implantation probability. Its algorithms are trained using a large, multicentre dataset sourced from the US, Israel, Europe, and Asia. 

According to a press statement, their partnership aims to help raise the success rate of fertility treatments in India. 

"Algorithms created by AI and deep machine learning detect signals from developing embryos most likely to result in babies. These include healthy and equal division of embryonic cells," noted Dr Firuza Parikh, head of FertilTree. 

She said they have already conducted an interim analysis using UBAR and have computed a predictive score most likely to result in a pregnancy. "This method is simple and inexpensive," she claimed.

Paytm enables national health ID creation with ABHA integration

Paytm, a fintech platform run by One97 Communications in India, is the latest tech provider to partner with the National Health Authority's Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.

The e-commerce and payment app now enables its users to create their unique Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) number, which they can use to access and share their health data with healthcare providers. 

In other news, Paytm recently launched an online health store on its platform where various health and insurance providers offer healthcare products and services.