MEDICINE MANAGEMENT MADE EASY. JR Repollo, a member of the Botika-on-the-Go developing team, discusses the application’s beginnings and convenient functions

A GROUP of Ateneans developed an Android medical application called “Botika-on-the-Go,” designed for medicine inventory, information, scheduling and acquisition.

Functioning as a personal pharmacist, the app integrates three features: An electronic medicine cabinet, a medicine encyclopedia and a drugstore inquiry system.

The developing team consists of Rhesa Janubas (BS ME ‘13), Cham Luna (BS ECE ‘13), Josh Mendoza (BS ECE ‘13), JR Repollo (BS ECE ‘13) and ECE supersenior Louie Koa. Their team adviser was Daniel Lagazo (BS CS ‘09).

According to Lagazo, the idea behind the app came from Electronics, Computer and Communications Engineering Department lecturer Jason Paul Cruz. “He wanted a Wikipedia for medicine and also an alarm and scheduler that reminds the user of his medications.”

“The problem that [the app] targets is the need of middle-aged people for a personalized medical tool,” Lagazo added.

Mendoza said that with its features, Botika-on-the-Go will also serve as a network where app users, pharmacists, medical doctors, and other practitioners in the health industry can communicate.

The app won the first Voyager Special Award in the 9th Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (Sweep) Innovation and Excellence Awards held last February 14.

Sweep is an industry-academe partnership that seeks to improve the level of technology and engineering education in the country, particularly in the field of electronics and communications engineering.

At first, the Voyager Special Award was not included in Sweep’s list of awards. However, the Voyager Company, a newly established subsidiary of Smart Communications, Inc., created the special award for the team.

“They said that they see a lot of potential in our app because the app’s marketability is extensive,” said Repollo.

According to Mendoza, Smart will patent Botika-on-the-Go. Voyager, meanwhile, will be the app’s official developer.

Botika-on-the-Go is now available on the Android market.

Main features

In an interview with The GUIDON, Repollo demonstrated how Botika-on-the-Go functions.

“It tries to incorporate medicine management into your daily routine,” he said.

The electronic medicine cabinet or inventory feature serves as a database where the user can store his or her medicines.

The feature has a built-in alarm system where the user is reminded when it is time to take his or her medicine. Additionally, the feature reminds users how much of a particular medicine is left.

Meanwhile, the medicine encyclopedia or medicine information feature informs the user of facts about a specific medicine.

“The questions are simple: ‘Why do I need the medicine?’ ‘How do I take the medicine?’ etc., so if you are concerned with a particular medicine, you [can] check,” Repollo said.

He added that cross-referencing is another helpful function of Botika-on-the-Go.

According to Repollo, if the user does not have the needed medicine in his inventory, the app brings the user to the store locator.

The drugstore inquiry system or store locator feature assists the user in buying the medicine.

“For example, I’m in Quezon City. [The app] will list all the medical stores near the city. Just click the location and it will appear on the maps,” he said.

Google Maps is integrated in the feature as well. The contact information of listed medical stores is also displayed.

Because the app operates on an online database, Botika-on-the-Go’s medicine information can easily be updated.

Development background

The development of the app began in the first semester of last school year.

According to Repollo, the difficulty of the contest lay in the need to think of a marketable idea. “The challenge was how do [you] make your idea work, and you will be chosen,” he said.

Initially, one of the ideas considered was the medicine prescription feature. However, the feature posed a challenge: “First of all, we were not [medical] professionals, so it’s hard to recommend. For every person, there are different conditions,” Repollo said.

The team decided to scrap the idea and instead replaced it with the current medicine information feature.

According to Repollo, Voyager has instructed the team to further develop Botika-on-the-Go.

“However, the problem is [that] we are ECE students, and we are taking the board exams this October,” he said.

The team has postponed further work on the app until after the board exams.