NEW DELHI: AIIMS New Delhi is working on its own WhatsApp and Telegram-like instant messaging app which will allow its staff from the main campus to communicate with others situated across the NCR towns of UP and Haryana, the New Indian Express has learned.
Officials said that a plan is in motion to develop an internal communication system that can be run on Android and iOS platforms with features similar to popular instant messaging services including sharing text, images, videos and documents which can be broadcasted and shared among the users.
According to an office memorandum accessed by the newspaper, the institute has set up a committee to find an agency that can develop the application with the prerequisites the institute has directed within the next three months.
One of the most important prerequisites the institute has expressed to have in the app is to have the resilience to withstand cyber threats. Interestingly, the institute has also demanded that the application should have the capability to restrict personal use of mobile phones during work hours.
The move has come after the major cyberattack the institute faced in November last year which paralysed the digital services in patient care delivery areas for more than two weeks.
According to sources, a robust internal communication system was one of the recommendations by the committee which assessed the ransomware attack then. Currently, official communications in the campuses—in Ansari Nagar, Jhajjar, Ballabhgarh, Trilok Puri, and Ghaziabad—are sent through emails, e-Office, or personally through phone calls, officials said.
Officials also said that the separate and more effective communication system will allow the dissemination of important communication to large groups of employees to promptly enhance the emergency response during mass casualty or disaster situations.
To develop the “tailor-made” application, the institute has directed the committee to find government organizations, Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) or autonomous bodies under the Central government, with a proven track record in providing and maintaining message communication systems for large organizations, according to the memorandum.
The committee has also been directed to float an Expression of Interest (EoI) in the next six days with a condition for the interested organizations that they should schedule a demonstration of their solutions within seven days of publishing the EoI and deliver a fully functional solution within three months.
What AIIMS want in the tailor-made communication app?
• Should run both on Android and iOS devices
• Should allow users to send and receive text, images, documents and videos
• Software must be robust and safe from cybersecurity threats
• Should allow the creation of closed user group (CUGS) for sharing of patient care information to selected users/ employees, confidentially
• Should have the ability to integrate with the proposed indoor navigation system, allowing geotagging
• Data must be stored on Indian Servers while the software must be indigenously developed and hosted on the cloud