DrDr.ir Helping Patients and Physicians

A service-based app and support website developed by an Iranian firm called Puzzle looks to lessen the load on doctors by introducing time saving technologies to the profession.

DrDr.ir as the name of the website goes, is directed at private general physicians–who are a major part of the medical fraternity – and aims to shift appointments to online databases rather than through the traditional paper work handled by receptionists, Web News Agency reported.

The service, developed in the central city of Yazd last year, aims to automate much of the clunky and outdated procedures that are a headache for patients and doctors alike.

The innovative services include shifting to electronic patient records, medical billing, insurance reports, monitoring frequency of visits as well as other features used by physicians for better patient management.

According to DrDr.ir, the site now has saved over 94,000 patients' records, as well as dozens of other data accumulated over the first few months since the service took off.

The advantage of going digital for doctors and hospitals is the availability of patient data 24/7, whereas previously, medical records were accessible only when the files were pulled off the shelves. Hosseinali Nazemian, a doctor on the website, said that the service is a great improvement on the old system where all patients turned up simultaneously to see the doctor.

Another doctor using the service, Afsaneh Ghasemi, said prior to the service, they had no idea about the data and medical background of their patients, but now they can access it from everywhere.

She added that originally when she used the app, it was largely for financial reports, but they soon began to use it for its other functions as well.

DrDr.ir was also one of the finalists in the 2016 Web Festival in Tehran, where startups compete to win the best website of the year title.

Digitization of Iran's government medical services has been going on in recent years to cut costs and save operational time. However, private doctors have worked independent of the national databases.