Google is getting into government. According to a report from The Economic Times, the tech giant is in talks with the Indian government regarding a public health sector partnership. Should a collaboration come to fruition, Google would offer a tech-based solution to help officials collect and analyze health data more efficiently.
Included in these solutions would be mobile apps to replace the paperwork that is currently needed for data intake. Moreover, Google would provide a standardized platform for tracking, maintaining, and sharing health data. Apparently, the Mountain View, California-based company began considering public health proposals after surveying community health workers in north Karnataka and New Delhi. After discovering that workers wasted time and energy in aggregating data, Google sought to use its technological know-how to simplify the process.
According to a source, “Google wants to develop an app for [these workers] to save time, as well as to motivate them by letting them know how their reports are being acted upon.“ A government official added, “Right now, each health program we run has its own software and they are not speaking to each other. We’re looking at a comprehensive approach where huge amounts of data become shareable.”
A number of tech companies have begun making their way into India’s health sector. For example, Hewlett-Packard has set up five e-Health centers in rural areas of the country, whereas Samsung is planning to equip health workers with 1,000 handheld devices to better collect health data. For the time being, however, Google is remaining tight-lipped on how it may or may not be involved in the Indian project. “It is an early-stage discussion, and we do not have anything to comment or add at this stage,” a Google spokesperson told Mashable India. But that may soon change.
