Today, Google announced an important thing for Indian people. Now, people searching for health information can get quick information in the form of health cards in the Knowledge Grap. To provide this information, Google has worked with Apollo Hospitals and Columbia Asia Hospitals. These health cards are already available in U.S.
Now, people can find quick information in response to symptoms or concerns in Google search. Google has added data of over 400 health conditions in English and Hindi. These cards will be available in Google app on Android or iOS phones and tablets, as well as mobile and desktop browser. These cards include images and can also be downloaded as PDFs. If user is on slow internet connection, it will serve ‘lite’ versions of the cards.
In few cases, you will also see high-quality illustrations from licensed medical illustrators.
Google says that people frequently search for health related things. 1 in 20 search queries is regarding a medical condition. Google also recorded 94% growth in Hindi content on the web. This is the reason, it also added cards in Hindi to help people searching in local language.
“Around the world, health conditions are among the most important things that people ask Google about. In fact, one in 20 searches are for health-related information,” explained Prem Ramaswami, Senior Product Manager at Google. “We worked closely with a team of local and international doctors to curate and validate this information including Apollo Hospitals and the Columbia Asia Hospitals here in India. During product development we also consulted the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and ASHAs who are community health workers to ensure the information on the cards is useful and accessible.”
“Apollo Hospitals is very proud to be working with Google on this initiative. Apollo Hospitals has a long history of using technology for the benefit of patients. We’re looking forward to building on this track record and being able to provide quality healthcare information to potentially a billion Indians,” Ms Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited said.
With this addition, Google wants to help people in quickly getting information about health related things and match their symptoms to find the possible issue. But I want to make it clear that the information shown in Google is just for information. But, do not use it as medical advice. I highly recommend you to go to the doctor if you think there is anything serious.
