superbug pandamics

Ref:AmericanInterest:SuperbugPandemicandHowtoPreventThem.Jan2017

Superbug Pandemics And How To Prevent Using Dr Maya By Dr. Kadiyali Srivatsa


“It is not the strongest of species that survive, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the most adaptable to change” – Charles Darwin All is not lost; there is at least some good news. Scientists can now rapidly decode the basic structure and pathways of most new diseases in ways that were unimaginable even a few decades ago. But even a much more rapid response must still rely on patients coming forward to say they have a symptom that may require investigation and treatment. We know from past experience that patients with serious symptoms are often in denial and ignore them until it’s too late; they avoid seeking help from doctors because they do not want their fears confirmed. But we can conquer this problem, and we can do it without requiring the top to bottom reform of public health infrastructures. I have developed a simple method to help people share information about symptoms, and it uses communication technology to monitor what’s going on and offer advice and treatment. Under my system, emergency operation centers, infectious disease control centers, and doctors are all informed after clusters of similar symptoms have been identified. This will help mobilize services to isolate infected individuals and prevent them from travelling to healthcare centers or hospital emergency rooms, thus spreading their infection to healthcare workers and the population at large. Also, by enabling doctors to create a database of symptoms using their local language, we can protect healthcare workers and the general public. We have spent years thinking, testing and developing a tool that is simple to use and inexpensive to implement. Our hypothesis is simple: We must stop using strong combinations of antibiotics and broad-spectrum antibiotics and instead focus on preventing infections from spreading locally. My innovation, the free Dr MAYA app, can identify infected individuals early, manage basic healthcare, lower patient anxiety, and reduce consultation time, thereby stopping the spread of infection. I originally created MAYA (Medical Advice You Access) to help receptionists and nurses in nurse-led clinics, walk-in-clinics, and emergency out-of-hours services to differentiate merely unwell from seriously unwell patients - and to refer the latter to doctors or hospitals, if required. But the technology now allows us to do much more. Through the Dr MAYA mobile phone application, we can develop a monitoring system that identifies clusters of infections in hospitals, communities, towns and countries. Preventing patients with contagious diseases from visiting accident and emergency departments or clinics will protect the lives of doctors, nurses and the general population. Hospitals must use Dr MAYA as the gatekeeper to protect healthcare workers, non-infected patients, and people in the community. Monitoring clusters of patients in one family, community, or local hospital will swiftly put a halt to epidemics and prevent pandemics from occurring.


So how does it work in practice? Let’s imagine that a person is feeling ill and obviously they want to know what is wrong with them. So they log into the system where they enter their symptoms, just as one might call a medical receptionist to explain why they need an appointment. Dr MAYA then evaluates the symptoms and advises the patient based on medical knowledge and experience. It does not give an ad hoc answer like many receptionists do, but responds using a data base composed of medical intelligence. Patients will be directed not to call a doctor if the Dr MAYA system suggests they should instead go to a pharmacist or a nurse, or directly to a hospital. That will reduce time-wasting consultations for non-threatening symptoms like warts, athlete’s foot, allergic rashes, or fungal infections. Patients will be advised to call emergency numbers if their symptoms are very serious but non-infectious. If the symptoms do indicate an infection, Dr MAYA will inform local infectious disease units to prevent the person from travelling and infecting healthcare workers and others. Only patients who require clinical examination or specific tests will be advised to book an appointment, thus reducing emergency appointments by about 80 percent because doctors will only see patients requiring face-to-face consultations. By using Dr MAYA, patients will be able to access specialist information provided by their own doctor and communicate with healthcare professionals 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They can offer appointments, video consultation, send and receive letters and prescriptions. Dr MAYA can also be linked to hospital management systems, or we can help to digitize and systemize healthcare in hospitals, clinics, and government health departments. Dr MAYA is also a boon for doctors, because it will make their lives easier and help improve the care they offer to their patients. Additionally, they can forward referral letters, sick notes, and search for information using the Internet while speaking to a patient. And that’s not all. Patients can watch videos and see pictures, read information sheets to help manage common medical problems and reduce wasted consultations, save cost and reduce cross infections. By integrating Dr MAYA with the IT revolution, we have created the world’s first tool to help identify and monitor infections. Offering such a powerful way to help doctors communicate, manage their patients better, and reduce the cost of running their clinic or office will encourage them to participate. Health departments, hospitals, airlines, healthcare service providers, embassies, and doctors can create their own portal and offer services to registered users. This tool will also reduce the number of receptionists, booking clerks, nurses and even junior doctors (Casualty Medical Officers), all of which greatly inflate the cost of health care. Dr MAYA can particularly help poorer countries because it enables them to skip the time and expense of building already obsolete medical communications systems. MAYA can also be adapted to help people communicate during times of natural calamities and wars, as well as pandemic disease. We are offering Dr MAYA free as a humanitarian service to protect healthcare professionals and fellow human being. We must act now to prevent and control an uncontrollable tsunami of superbugs and viruses that could wipe millions of people off the face of the planet.

superbug pandamics

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