29 January 2021, Kathmandu
Two youths from Jhapa have developed an application named ‘RAGATDAAN’ to ease the network of blood donors across the country.
Dipesh Pokhrel, a member of the app development committee, says the application focuses on bringing together interested blood donors and patients who are in need of blood.
Pokhrel, who as a student visited Japan to study states that he had the vision to help ease the process of blood donation since the year 2015. His vision is to make the blood donation process in Nepal way more convenient by increasing users across the country.
The lockdown implemented last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic provided enough time for Dipesh to create the application. He with his colleagues developed and launched the product at the end of the year. Also, he did not forget to mention his friend’s effort in increasing the enhancement of the application.
‘RAGATDAAN’ has been downloaded nearly 500 times from the Google Playstore to date. Users can sign in either as a donor or as a member after downloading the application. The donors can donate as well as receive blood by the use of the platform. On the other hand, it is not necessary for members to donate blood but they can help others or receive blood for themselves when in need.
Furthermore, users can enter details such as names, contact numbers of ambulances and hospitals nearby while signing into the application. The entered data is then verified and entered by the company at last.
The application enables users to search for blood donors by entering the district/municipal address and blood group. Therefore, the app will provide a list of nearby donors whom users can contact to collect blood samples. It does not use GPS tracking features to search for donors but recommends them on the basis of users in the database.
‘RAGATDAAN’ is free to use for the public. In the upcoming days, Dipesh sees it being developed as a free telemedicinal application.
