THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Nearly three months after the government dumped American company 'Sprinklr' over the data breach controversy, the state-owned Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) has come up with its own application called 'Koode' to collate the details of people under observation for Covid-19 on a daily basis.
The self-reporting app would not only lessen the burden on health workers of house visits but also help authorities analyse better. The launch of 'Koode' comes at a time when
quarantine management and contact tracing are stretching the resources available and the people involved are increasingly getting exposed to the virus. Close to 1.5 lakh people are under home isolation at present and Health Minister KK Shailaja has warned of a spike in cases through August and September.
Using 'Koode', people in home quarantine can update local authorities about their health condition daily for a period of 28 days. "The app's tag line is 'one day, one minute' as it follows a simple procedure.
People have to either tick the boxes or enter yes or no to a list of questions," an officer told TNIE.
The voluntary disclosure helps the authorities know when a person develops symptoms and act accordingly. The secretaries of local bodies, medical officers of Public Health Centres, district collectors, district medical officers, district police chiefs and station house officers will be able to view the data entered in the form of dashboards. The app is patronised by the National Health Mission (NHM-Kerala), LSG Department, IT Department and the Kerala State IT Mission.
The web application was pilot tested in two panchayats and it would soon be spread to all local bodies. A mobile application will be available in Google Play Store soon.
With the government backing off from its deal with 'Sprinklr', the authorities lacked an intelligent quarantine management system. 'Koode', however, is slightly different compared to the dashboard provided by 'Sprinklr'.
"The 'Sprinklr' dashboard was designed for big data analysis at the state level while 'Koode' is for real-time management of data at the local body level," said the officer.
He said the scope of the application could be expanded to add complex analytical tools. The data will be stored on the servers of C-DIT at the data centre. It took two months for the government to cancel the agreement with 'Sprinklr' after the Opposition and privacy rights activists criticised the deal for its lack of transparency and conditions of data handling.