21-Year-Old Bengaluru Boy Designs Organ Donation App, Wins Microsoft Challenge

Pratik Mohapatra, a final year student at RV College Of Engineering Bengaluru, who previously won the 2018 Imagine Cup World Championship in Redmond, Washington for his DrugSafe app, has now successfully bagged the Microsoft Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Good Idea Challenge with his new AI app concept, OrganSecure.

Pratik realised that there is a wide gap between demand for organs and their availability, while watching a web series and decided to come up with a solution for the onscreen protagonist.

“The lead actor struggles to find an organ for his ill son and even goes to a questionable extent in his desperation to save him. It shows how difficult it is to get an organ in India and even in parts of the world. I wanted to put technology to good use to find a solution,” Pratik told The Times Of India.

“I wanted to solve the current problem, where organs are given on a first-come, first served basis,” he explained.

Pratik spoke about several problems associated with organ donations- long waiting periods, matching blood groups, platelet count and the remaining lifespan of the recipient.

OrganSecure promises to match donor quickly and provide real-time updates to those who require transplant.

It uses AI to evaluate parameters like blood groups, antigens and the number of days a recipient will possibly live. It matches donors with recipients on priority.

“It aims to reduce the chances of error and helps people waiting for their organs, making the host-donor matching process more transparent,” Pratik told The Times Of India.

He started working on the solution six months ago and hopes to bring the app to the masses in the next few months. He also plans to take the technology to other parts of India and across the world.

Pratik also aims at joining Microsoft after finishing his graduation in 2020.

The 21-year-old’s Artificial Intelligence-based solution has won the Microsoft’s 2019 AI for Good Idea Challenge Award.

Also, Read “Ramon Magsaysay Award” To NDTV Journalist Ravish Kumar For “Fearless Journalism”