Mumbai, February 16: For doctors who might have wished for a search engine that could diagnose ailments on the basis of a patient’s symptoms, there’s good news: www.isabelhealthcare.com, touted as the Google of the medical world, is now in India.

Named after an English girl Isabel Maude (3) who almost died after a misdiagnosis, the website was launched in the UK in 2002. The subscriptions for the website are now being offered in India.

Suffering from a life-threatening complication of chicken pox, Maude’s condition could not be diagnosed accurately, resulting in a multi-organ failure.

During her treatment, her father suggested to Dr Joseph Britto, a paediatric intensive care physician treating Maude that a system should be devised to help doctors diagnose diseases.

Enthused by the idea, Britto got in touch with a software firm in Bangalore and had a package developed in three years.

‘‘The website goes a step ahead of Google as its language processing software understands the content and meaning of words in an advanced manner,’’ said Britto, who’s currently in the city to promote the website.

Though city hospitals have been evaluating the website for some time now, a dozen private practitioners and Manipal Hospital in Bangalore have already subscribed to it.

‘‘Many a times, we think of two or three possible diagnoses for a patient. But the website lists many more one may not have thought of at all,’’ said Dr Rajesh Rajani, a cardiologist at Hinduja Hospital, one of the subscribers.

Google for doctors
* When symptoms are keyed in, the website searches its database comprising journals and textbooks and throws up a list of possible ailments
* It has 10,000 diseases in its database, including rare diseases like aortic dissection and unusual forms of leukemia
* Its link on ‘Lessons learned’ helps doctors to learn about the mistakes made by doctors worldwide pertaining to specific symptoms, diagnosis and treatment
* Annual charges are $90 per bed for a hospital and $375 for private practitioners