Table of Contents
Abstract
The rapid digital transformation of healthcare has created an urgent need for an integrated, intelligent, and patient-centric system that connects doctors, patients, and pharmacies within a single digital ecosystem. The AI telemedicine platform known as CuraLink is designed to address this gap by offering seamless remote medical consultations alongside advanced pharmacy management capabilities. Developed using Flask, MySQL, and SocketIO, this AI telemedicine platform enables patients to schedule appointments, participate in live video consultations, and receive digital prescriptions securely through a web-based interface.
A key strength of this AI telemedicine platform is its real-time communication capability, powered by Jitsi Meet API, ensuring secure and interactive doctor–patient consultations. Automated email notifications using Flask-Mail keep users informed about appointment confirmations, prescription updates, and consultation status. Additionally, the integrated pharmacy module allows medical stores to monitor inventory, track expiry dates, and manage restocking efficiently within the same ecosystem.
To enhance accessibility, the AI telemedicine platform integrates GPS and OpenStreetMap APIs, helping patients locate nearby pharmacies in real time. A distinctive innovation of CuraLink is its AI-based medicine recommendation engine, which uses TF-IDF vectorization and cosine similarity to suggest alternative medicines when a prescribed drug is unavailable. This intelligent feature promotes safer medication access while reducing dependency on specific brands.
Designed with a multi-role architecture—Patient, Doctor, and Pharmacy—this AI telemedicine platform ensures data privacy, role-based access control, and streamlined workflows. Overall, CuraLink represents a scalable, secure, and intelligent AI telemedicine platform that blends machine learning, real-time communication, and geospatial intelligence to improve healthcare delivery across India.
Introduction
Background
Digital healthcare adoption has grown rapidly across India due to rising internet penetration, smartphone usage, and demand for accessible medical services. The AI telemedicine platform model has emerged as a practical solution for reducing barriers to healthcare, especially in rural and semi-urban regions where medical facilities are limited. Despite technological progress, many existing systems operate in isolation—either focusing only on teleconsultation or only on pharmacy services—creating fragmentation in patient care.
CuraLink addresses this limitation by functioning as a unified AI telemedicine platform that integrates virtual consultations, AI-powered medicine recommendations, digital prescriptions, and location-based pharmacy services. This holistic approach ensures continuity of care while minimizing delays in treatment. Unlike conventional platforms, CuraLink enables direct collaboration between doctors, patients, and pharmacists within a single secure network.
Built on Flask, MySQL, and SocketIO, this AI telemedicine platform leverages modern web technologies and machine learning techniques to deliver a responsive, data-driven healthcare experience. The integration of Jitsi Meet enables high-quality real-time video consultations, while automated email alerts keep users updated at every stage of their medical journey. By combining AI, real-time communication, and geolocation intelligence, CuraLink sets a new benchmark for next-generation digital healthcare systems in India.
Problem Statement
Despite advancements in digital health, significant challenges continue to affect healthcare accessibility and efficiency in India. Many patients struggle with booking timely appointments, verifying doctor credentials, and managing prescriptions digitally. Traditional healthcare systems still rely heavily on manual paperwork, leading to miscommunication and treatment delays.
A major limitation in existing platforms is the lack of integration between teleconsultation services and pharmacy management. Patients often receive prescriptions digitally but face difficulties in locating medicines at nearby pharmacies. Additionally, when a prescribed drug is unavailable, there is no reliable mechanism for suggesting safe alternatives.
Without an intelligent decision-support system, patients risk medication errors, while pharmacists face difficulties in inventory tracking and demand forecasting. These issues highlight the need for a centralized AI telemedicine platform that not only connects doctors and patients but also seamlessly integrates pharmacies with AI-driven medicine substitution capabilities. CuraLink is designed to bridge this critical gap by ensuring efficient coordination across the healthcare ecosystem.
Objectives
The primary objectives of the CuraLink AI telemedicine platform are as follows:
- Develop a secure, web-based AI telemedicine platform that integrates doctors, patients, and pharmacies.
- Enable real-time video consultations using Jitsi Meet for high-quality telehealth interactions.
- Implement an AI-driven recommendation system for alternative medicines based on composition similarity.
- Facilitate online appointment scheduling, digital prescriptions, and automated notifications.
- Integrate GPS-based pharmacy search using OpenStreetMap APIs.
- Provide role-based dashboards for Patients, Doctors, and Pharmacies.
- Automate pharmacy inventory management, expiry tracking, and restocking alerts.
- Ensure scalability, security, and usability for real-world healthcare applications.
These objectives collectively position CuraLink as a robust AI telemedicine platform capable of transforming digital healthcare delivery in India.
Scope of the Study
CuraLink operates across three major user roles—Patient, Doctor, and Pharmacy—each equipped with specialized functionalities within this AI telemedicine platform.
For Patients:
- Book and manage online consultations.
- Attend real-time video appointments.
- Receive digital prescriptions via email.
- Locate nearby pharmacies using GPS.
- Access AI-based alternate medicine suggestions.
For Doctors:
- Accept or reject patient appointments.
- Conduct secure virtual consultations.
- Issue digital prescriptions.
- Maintain patient medical history records.
For Pharmacies:
- Monitor medicine inventory and expiry.
- Process online medicine orders.
- Receive automated restocking alerts.
- Maintain digital sales records.
In the future, this AI telemedicine platform can be expanded to integrate Electronic Health Records (EHR), wearable IoT health data, and predictive analytics for proactive patient care.
System Requirement Specifications (SRS)
Functional Requirements
The CuraLink AI telemedicine platform supports role-based functionalities for Patients, Doctors, and Pharmacies, ensuring structured workflows, secure data exchange, and real-time collaboration.
Non-Functional Requirements
The system emphasizes reliability, scalability, security, performance efficiency, and usability for a smooth healthcare experience.
Software and Hardware Requirements
| Category | Specification |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10/11 or Ubuntu 20.04+ |
| Processor | Intel i5 or higher |
| RAM | Minimum 8 GB |
| Storage | 1 GB free space |
| Browser | Chrome/Edge/Firefox with WebRTC |
| Backend | Flask 2.x, Python 3.9+ |
| Database | MySQL 8.x |
| Front-End | HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap 5, JavaScript |
| Video Conferencing | Jitsi Meet API |
| Location Service | OpenStreetMap Overpass API |
| Deployment Tool | Ngrok |
| IDE | VS Code / PyCharm |
| Version Control | Git / GitHub |
Technologies Used
| Technology | Role in System |
|---|---|
| Flask | Core backend framework |
| MySQL | Stores user data, prescriptions, and inventory |
| Socket.IO | Enables real-time communication |
| Flask-Mail | Sends automated notifications |
| scikit-learn | Powers AI medicine recommendations |
| pandas | Handles dataset processing |
| Jitsi Meet | Provides live video consultations |
| OpenStreetMap | Locates nearby pharmacies |
| Bootstrap 5 | Creates responsive UI |
| Ngrok | Enables remote testing |
Software Design Specification
High-Level System Architecture
CuraLink follows a three-tier architecture:
- Presentation Layer – User interface for patients, doctors, and pharmacies.
- Application Layer – Flask-based backend handling business logic and AI processing.
- Data Layer – MySQL database managing structured healthcare records.
This modular design ensures scalability, security, and efficient system performance.
Conclusion
CuraLink successfully demonstrates how an AI telemedicine platform can transform healthcare delivery through intelligent integration of teleconsultation, pharmacy management, and machine learning. By combining Flask, MySQL, Socket.IO, and Jitsi Meet, the system enables seamless digital healthcare interactions across multiple stakeholders.
The AI-powered medicine recommendation engine enhances patient safety and medicine accessibility, while automated notifications improve communication efficiency. Extensive system testing confirms reliability, usability, and real-world applicability.
Although further enhancements are required—such as mobile app development and stronger security measures—CuraLink establishes a strong foundation for future digital healthcare innovation in India.
Future Enhancements
1. Mobile Application Development
A Flutter-based mobile app will improve accessibility for rural users.
2. Enhanced Security
Implementation of 2FA, encryption, and HIPAA/GDPR compliance.
3. EHR Integration
Linking with hospital databases for complete patient records.
4. AI Symptom Checker
Using NLP models like BERT for preliminary diagnosis.
5. Blockchain Prescriptions
Immutable digital records for enhanced security.
6. IoT Wearable Integration
Real-time patient monitoring using smart devices.
7. Payment Gateway
Integration with UPI, Paytm, and Razorpay.
8. AI Chatbot Assistant
Automated support for user queries.
9. Multi-Language Support
Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and regional language options.
10. Cloud Deployment
Migration to AWS or Azure for scalability.
What is CuraLink?
CuraLink is an AI telemedicine platform that connects patients, doctors, and pharmacies digitally.
How does the AI recommendation work?
It uses TF-IDF and cosine similarity to suggest alternative medicines.
Is CuraLink secure?
Yes, it supports role-based authentication and encrypted communication.
Can I find nearby pharmacies?
Yes, using OpenStreetMap integration.
Does CuraLink support video calls?
Yes, via Jitsi Meet API.
Can pharmacies manage inventory?
Yes, with automated stock tracking and alerts.
