Google Shows Concern For Health Of Indian People

Google launches a feature for Indians to gather healthcare information and take precautionary measures

The latest move by Google in India might help extend the reach to medical details amongst a large number of people. The organization included healthcare details in its own knowledge graph in the United States in 2015, to let people easily gather quick details to respond to concerns or symptoms via its search engine. Currently, the feature is heading to India.

Google , which runs two most visited webpages of India, revealed Alexa, will currently serve users of Google’s major search engine (on every platform) and its search applications for Android and iOS with data regarding 400 healthcare conditions on Hindi and English, when they conduct a research for a symptom or disease.

The cards include pictures and can be downloaded as Portable Document Formats (PDFs), which can be passed easily to anyone else, perhaps a friend or family member. The organization said it would serve versions of the health-friendly cards if a user avails a limited connection to the internet, as can be experienced in countries such as India.

Why is the organization doing this? With 1 in 20 health-related searches, the company is interested in helping users to attain vast reach to details – although it concerns many that the “search results are not intended as medical advice.”

The tech feature is currently offered in the United States – where the technology company collaborated with Mayo Clinic to fact find its answers – and in Brazil few weeks earlier. In India, the company tied up with Columbia Asia and Apollo Hospitals on the healthcare content, while it had a visit to a clinic in the Indian city, Ballabgarh – only under 40km away from New Delhi – in 2015 to learn more regarding how it could prove to be helpful for medical professionals at ground level.

The move by the organization is in line with an increasing number of new emerging businesses dedicated to democratize healthcare in the country, where it is claimed that at most 97% of people are unable to extend reach to basic surgical coverage.

The medical information portal, Practo, signed a $90 million investment deal in 2015, including the Google’s venture capital fund, Google Capital, while its close competitor ‘Lybrate’ raised a sum of $10 million led by well-known hedge fund manager Tiger Global.

These two companies have focused on offering reliable details to their users, who can also be provided with more specified feedback (and, if needed, appointments) with certified doctors. The Indian healthcare push of Google does not go to that extent, but with it being visible, a seemingly small measure could even offer better reach to details and persuade people in the country to be more keenly interested in their health.

Google Negotiates With Indian Telecoms To Run Project Loon On Trial Basis

Google will collaborate with Indian telecoms to pilot its Loon Project for offering internet to the remote areas of India.

Google is presently negotiating with numerous Indian telecommunications service providers such as BSEL, as it is interested in starting the program on a trial basis, revealed by sources familiar with the deliberations, who wanted to keep their names anonymous. This project is expected to benefit the remote villages. 

The discussions have begun after CEO Sundar Pichai managed to get support for the venture from the Indian government. During an exclusive interview, chief of Google India Rajan Anandan did not rule the likelihood of the company establishing its office for its initial-stage investment fund, Google ventures, in the country, although he refused to reveal more details and a timeframe.

In 2015, the company established an office for Google Capital, which is its later stage growth venture investment fund. Now, it is interested in only focusing upon mentoring startups, instead of developing ventures immediately. Rajan stated Google Capital would invest in the country at a faster pace.

The reality is that many people write cheques. "We are interested in enhancing the quality of products and founders," said Rajan, who is an active angel investor with large investments in start-ups and a former head of Dell India operations. 

For the project Loon, Rajan refused to share his view on the service providers with whom the company is talking. He has stated the company will collaborate with a domestic telecom, as the service has to be actually provided by a local telecom.

Last week, Government of India has imposed a levy of 6% to indirectly tax businesses such as Facebook and Google, a development that could set the stage for taxation across the border digital transactions and possibly increase the costs for marketers.

In other news, New York times revealed that the competition commissioner of European Union, Margrethe Vestager, is about to go ahead in the nearby future in the antitrust case filed by her against the company, in which the company has been alleged by her of  giving favors to some of its owned facilities in search results more than those of its rivals.

The present charges mentioned in the statement of objections are only one in many competition-related problems that the mapping service provider might face in 2016 in the European region. Margrethe is also conducting an investigation to determine was Apple received an unfair tax agreement from Ireland and Amazon from the Government of Luxembourg, which violated the state aid rules of Europe.