Respiratory Health · India

Respiratory screening
via WhatsApp.
No app needed.

Respiro Health is building India's first patient-initiated respiratory health screening platform — a pull model where anyone with WhatsApp can screen themselves, without a health worker, without an app download, without leaving home.

Why this matters
🫁
70M+
Indians living with COPD and asthma — most undiagnosed, all underserved
📱
500M+
WhatsApp users in India — already on every phone, zero friction
5 min
Average OPD consultation time — doctors need better information faster
🏥
₹60,000Cr
Annual economic burden of COPD and asthma in India alone
The Gap

The system can only see patients who arrive.
We are building for the ones who don't.

From TB to COPD to asthma — India's respiratory disease burden is massive, largely undetected, and concentrated in populations that don't reach a doctor in time. Most respiratory diseases go undetected because people don't seek care in time — due to normalising symptoms, stigma, distance, or not knowing their cough is serious. By the time they reach a doctor, the disease has progressed. The gap is pre-diagnostic, and it is enormous.

70M+
Indians estimated to have COPD or asthma — the majority undiagnosed or undertreated
43%
Of global asthma deaths occur in India — despite asthma being a manageable condition with early intervention
37%
Of Indian adult smokers have COPD — most don't know it until significant lung damage has occurred
The Approach

Push model vs Pull model.
A fundamental difference.

Existing AI screening tools use a push model — a trained health worker goes out to find the patient. Respiro is a pull model — the patient initiates screening themselves, privately, before they've decided to visit a clinic.

1

Patient opens WhatsApp

No app download. No registration. Works on any phone that already has WhatsApp — 500 million in India.

2

Records a cough

A 30-second guided voice note, in the patient's own language. Private. No health worker present.

3

AI analyses the recording and symptoms

Respiratory patterns combined with symptom inputs are processed by our AI pipeline. A risk assessment is generated in seconds.

4

Guided to the right care

High-risk patients are guided to the nearest appropriate healthcare facility. The system routes people toward care — not around it.

Distribution model comparison
Push model
Existing tools
  • ⚙ Requires trained NTEP health worker
  • ⚙ Dedicated app installation
  • ⚙ Patient must be found first
  • ⚙ Scales with manpower
  • ⚙ Public screening — stigma risk
Pull model
Respiro
  • ✓ Patient initiates themselves
  • ✓ WhatsApp — already installed
  • ✓ Works from home, privately
  • ✓ Scales with awareness
  • ✓ Zero stigma — no one knows
The Approach

Confirmed clinical diagnosis.
Not symptom guesswork.

We are building a clinically rigorous respiratory dataset — recordings linked to confirmed diagnoses from hospitals and clinics across India. Starting with high-burden infectious respiratory disease and expanding to chronic conditions — our dataset covers the full spectrum of respiratory health.

🏥
Private Clinics

Urban respiratory diseases

Working with private pulmonologists across India to capture confirmed asthma, COPD, and bronchitis cases — linked to spirometry and clinical diagnosis.

📋
Pre-consultation

Structured clinical workflow

Our coordinator captures patient history before the consultation begins. Doctor receives a structured summary. Better information in less time — for both patient and physician.

🔬
Research partnerships

Academic validation

Active academic research collaborations with medical institutions for rigorous clinical validation of our screening approach across respiratory conditions.

The Team

Built by engineers.
Guided by clinicians.

Respiro is a technical founder-led company with clinical advisory from some of India's leading respiratory health and public health experts.

👨‍💻
Ajay Sharma
Founder & CEO
Full-stack AI/ML engineer. Built Respiro's entire platform independently — WhatsApp flows, coordinator app, AWS backend, and acoustic AI pipeline.
🩺
Dr. Geetanjali Kapoor
Medical Advisor
Oxford Visiting Academic. Former WHO Consultant. Authored India's national infection prevention guidelines. Advising on clinical dataset design and respiratory diagnostic validation.
Work With Us

We are actively seeking
the right partners.

We are building Respiro with partners who understand the clinical reality of respiratory health in India — from private pulmonologists to hospital administrators to public health implementers. If your work touches respiratory health, we want to talk.

🏥 Hospitals & Clinics

Private pulmonology clinics, chest OPDs, and hospitals interested in improving pre-consultation workflow and participating in our clinical data partnership programme.

🔬 Academic & Research

Medical colleges and research institutions interested in co-authorship and joint grant applications for respiratory health AI research.

🏛 Government & Public Health

Government health institutions and public health implementation organisations working on respiratory disease elimination programmes across India.

💼 Strategic Investors

Investors who understand the Indian healthcare market and bring clinical or government relationships alongside capital. We are raising our seed round.

Get Involved

Building the respiratory
health layer for India.

Whether you run a clinic, lead a hospital department, work in public health, or invest in health-tech — we want to hear from you.