WhatsApp India, GoI join hands to leverage Chatbot for non-Covid use-cases

These collaborations happen despite several run ins between the two on regulatory issues

Upbeat from the wide use of the WhatsApp chatbot during the last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, WhatsApp India and the Centre are now planning to expand the features of this bot to include dedicated medical opinion for cancer consultation online, or electronic history capturing of patients.

Solutions such as X-Ray Setu, an automated solution that helps with the interpretation of Chest X-Rays from low-resolution images sent over WhatsApp are also in the works.

Abhijit Bose, WhatsApp India Head said that Covid-19 was a difficult phase but it also showed us how people were quick to find solutions. WhatsApp has been working closely with civic bodies, governments, and city administrations across India to identify ways in which the WhatsApp Business Platform can help governments communicate with citizens quicker and deliver services in a ‘safe and secure’ manner, Bose said.  

It has worked with MyGoV and the Union Health Ministry over the last two years to build WhatsApp Helpdesk on WhatsApp. The WhatsApp Business Platform has been used to book appointments, locate vaccination and testing centres, resolving medical queries, doctor consultations for general illnesses as well as Covid-19.

Abhishek Singh, CEO, MyGoV elaborated: “The MyGov Corona Helpdesk Chatbot was conceptualized and launched in March 2020 with an objective to use the WhatsApp interface for communications around Covid-19 and help citizens with all information related to Covid and get their queries answered. The Chatbot was launched in a record 5 days from conceptualisation on March 13, 2020, to going live on March 19, 2020.”

He said that within one week, the Chatbot had 10 million users. Over time more features have been added and today we have more than 85 million users. “So far, 85 million people have interacted with the bot. More than 34 million people have downloaded vaccination certificates. More than 3 million people have booked vaccination slots from the chatbot and more than 1 million have used DigiLocker services,” Singh informed.

In January 2021, Singh says, the feature to book Covid-19 vaccination and download certificates were started. This January, the DigiLocker services were unlocked at the bot, and began with some of the most sought after public documents.

“The interface prompts the user for the registered mobile number and then shares an OTP on it immediately. The vaccination certificate is made available in about 30 seconds. The chatbot has a conversational interface, and because the instant messaging platform is used by over 500 million Indians and accessing these documents is simple. Along with Hindi and English, the chatbot is available in 14 states in regional languages as well,” Singh explains.

It was initially designed to book vaccination appointments and download immunization certificates, but it has since evolved into a one-stop-shop for accessing a variety of official documents. This means that citizens will be able to download their driver’s license, income tax returns, insurance certificate, and Class X/XII mark sheets, too.

“Over a period, we added more Covid related use-cases on the bot including vaccine booking and vaccine certificate download,” Singh said.

Animesh Parashar - Additional Executive Director, State Health Society, Government of Bihar (Bihar Vaccine Mitra) recollected a real-life incident.

“I remember an incident when the vaccines were just rolled out and the public was confused by information received through various sources. A relative wanted to know where he could visit and get vaccinated closest to his home. He called me for a solution. I immediately used the chatbot and got accurate information. He went and received the vaccine on the same day and was so thankful. Needless to say, he made sure his friends and family used this chatbot as well and I’ve been told he’s become famous in his circle for suggesting the chatbot first.”

Parashar said that the feedback feature of the Chatbot allowed users to share their experiences and how the bot could improve. “We saw a lot of suggestions for vaccine certificate download and hence decided to incorporate that as an additional feature.”

The government thus wants to upgrade and expand the scope of this Chatbot to include other health services and solutions.

Dinesh Tyagi - CEO at CSC e-Governance Services India Limited said that “We are planning to add these two features to our ChatBot. Work is in pipeline for this include dedicated Super speciality or second opinion for cancer consultation online, and also history capturing of patients or creation of Electronic health records.

Tyagi says that the idea of the chatbot came when during the pandemic they observed that many villagers had limited access to doctors for primary healthcare consultations.

“To make it easier for them to connect with doctors in a hassle-free way, we came up with the idea of developing a chatbot assisted system for Telemedicine where the Doctors did video consultations over WhatsApp,” he explained.

WhatsApp India feels their platform has high potential to solve India’s health problems.

As Bose puts it, “We believe our platform has immense potential to solve India’s health problems and take healthcare solutions to the remotest parts of the country. Solutions such as X-Ray Setu, a specially designed automated solution that helps with the interpretation of Chest X-Rays from low-resolution images sent over WhatsApp, are proving to be a game-changer in solving India’s rural healthcare needs.”

“We believe this is just the beginning and we are committed to finding partners who can help bring more such solutions to the fore,” he adds.

Government tussles

Despite the fact social media platforms such as Whatsapp and Twitter have had runins with the government on several issues related to privacy, social media platforms have continued to work with civic agencies to take governance to masses.

For instance in October last year, the government filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court, saying that WhatsApp, being a foreign company, cannot avail of fundamental rights under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution, invoke the jurisdiction of the court or challenge the constitutionality of an Indian law.

The Facebook-owned messaging giant had filed a lawsuit in the high court against the Indian government in May, seeking to block the traceability clause of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 that requires social media platforms with more than 5 million users to locate “the first originator of the information”, if required by the local authorities.

But these issues have not meant that the platforms which have immense user engagement have stopped working with the government.

During the pandemic Whatsapp was also used by several government run schools as a preferred platform to carry online classes.

The situation is similar with platforms like Twitter as well. Though the short message platform has fought with Indian governments demand for taking down content (tweets) from time to time, on the basis of that the government is trying to curtail free speech. Several Ministers use the platform to share news.