BANGALORE: Wrong diagnosis of a disease could prove fatal, raising questions of medical negligence. But if there is a software that helps doctors to look at a full array of possible conditions based on symptoms, wrong diagnosis could be averted.

With its "Diagnostic decision support software," the U.K.-based Isabel Healthcare has now entered India, striking deals with a city hospital and on the verge of finalising a contract with another city-based hospital chain.

"The software, called Isabel, is essentially a sophisticated search engine based on the Statistical Natural Language Processing (SNLP) software," Isabel Healthcare CEO and co-founder, Joseph Britto told The Hindu . It allows doctors to type in a patient's symptoms. A list of possible causes and the diagnoses appears on the screen. "It is like a highly specified Google for medial diagnosis," Dr. Britto said.

He hastened to add that the software is not meant to replace doctors, but to enhance their knowledge. The final decision on the diagnosis is left to the doctor. The Isabel system was created by physicians to offer doctors decision support at the point of care, reducing the incidence of missed or delayed diagnosis.

With a development centre in Bangalore, the Isabel software found its first customer in Manipal hospital last year. Isabel Healthcare is poised to sign another deal with a major hospital chain here, Dr. Britto said.

The company is also in discussions with various State governments.

Isabel Healthcare was co-founded by Dr. Britto and Jason Maude, after the latter's three-year-old daughter, Isabel's brush with death in 1999. The adoption of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) of patients by hospitals here is likely to further increase the relevance of diagnosis support software such as Isabel.

For instance, the software could be linked to the EMRs, prompting doctors about potential causes for abnormal results in a patient's latest laboratory tests.

Many hospitals in the country have proposed to launch EMRs soon.

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