Monday, May 12, 2008

Shooting for the 100K

Click seeks mobile diagnoses in rural patients

By Ryan McBride

It's tough to get physicians to visit remote villages in such undeveloped countries as India -- but cell phones with special cameras could enable some diseases to be diagnosed from afar. This is the business argument for Click Diagnostics, a semifinalist in the development track of the MIT $100K Business Plan Competition. The development track, launched last year to complement the entrepreneurship track, recognizes business plans focused on solutions for developing countries.

"It feels great," said Mridul Chowdhury, CEO of Click, who graduates from Harvard University this month with a master's degree in public administration in international development. "All the other teams that made it into the semifinals are great."

In rural parts of South Asia where quack doctors are known to prey on sick villagers, Click proposes to deploy their own health workers with cell phones equipped with macro lenses and software for questioning patients about their ailments. The lenses enable the cell cameras to take close-up images of eyes or skin to diagnose such disorders as cataracts or skin infections, and the software in the phones instructs the health workers to ask certain questions of the patients about their illnesses.

Ultimately, the health worker sends the photo and audio files via cell phone to a designated server linked to regional doctors who can make diagnoses and send them back to the health worker to give the patient within 24 hours. Patients would pay the health worker for cell phone services as well as diagnostic services.