Stroke-code software that links district hospitals to a hub neurologist
TL;DR Strokelink is software for the first hour after a stroke reaches a district hospital. It starts a timed stroke code, sends the CT to an on-call neurologist at a hub, and warns you before the clot-busting drug runs out. State health missions and hospital chains pay per connected hospital.
India had more than 12.5 lakh new strokes in 2021[1]. ICMR's hospital registry of 34,792 strokes found only 20.1% of patients arrived within 4.5 hours, and just 4.6% of ischaemic strokes got clot-dissolving treatment[2]. So why did eligible patients go untreated? Late arrival explained most cases, but slow imaging accounted for 12.6% and an empty drug shelf for 11%[2].
Those last two are failures inside the hospital and both can be fixed.
A district hospital may have a CT scanner but no neurologist awake at midnight. And a doctor who can't get a specialist's opinion quickly tends not to give a drug that can cause bleeding, which is fair enough.
First, the regulatory bit - this is clinical workflow and communication software. It does not read scans or make a diagnosis, and a licensed neurologist makes every treatment decision. If you later add automated CT analysis or triage scores then the software becomes a medical device under the Medical Devices Rules 2017, probably in a higher risk class, so plan that as a separate, licensed product.
When a suspected stroke arrives a nurse taps one button. The app starts a door-to-needle clock and pages the hub neurologist. It pushes the CT images and a short structured exam to the neurologist's phone and records each step for audit. A stock screen shows how many vials of the drug each hospital holds and raises an alert before any site runs out.
The seed proposed continuous AI monitoring of brain activity to catch strokes early. We reframed it. In the best ambulance study, dry-electrode EEG gave usable recordings in only 68% of patients, and EEG can't tell a clot from a bleed, so you still need a CT scan[3]. Worn by the general public, a device like that would throw far more false alarms than true ones. The delays you can actually fix are inside hospitals.
The patient never sees Strokelink. The buyer is a state health department or National Health Mission running a hub-and-spoke network, or a private hospital chain that wants its smaller hospitals to feed stroke cases to a flagship centre.
The drug itself is costly - a 50 mg vial of tenecteplase now carries a retail price of ₹60,238.27[4]. That makes a missed or wasted dose expensive. Vendors in this space don't publish their prices.
West Bengal's Swasthya Ingit network has thrombolysed 1,329 patients across 41 hospitals since December 2021, and outcomes at teleconsult sites matched those with an on-site neurologist[5]. That gives states a local model to copy. ICMR's registry results, reported in July 2026, also put drug stock-outs on record as a cause of missed treatment[2].
No rupee figure exists for India's tele-stroke software market. The bottom-up frame starts at about 12.5 lakh strokes a year[1]. If roughly a fifth arrive within the treatment window[2] then that's about 2.5–3 lakh time-critical cases a year (my estimate). Each treated case uses a drug worth tens of thousands of rupees[4].
Next door, the leading US stroke-coordination platform is used in more than 1,000 hospitals[6]. That's a sign of category demand, not an Indian figure.
One Indian AI imaging tool reads head CTs for bleeds and infarcts and runs in hub-and-spoke setups such as a private hospital in Calicut[7]. US and UK stroke-AI vendors sell AI stroke imaging with care coordination in the US and UK, priced for those markets. State programmes in West Bengal and Himachal built their own networks[5].
The gap is a cheap workflow layer for government district hospitals that works over chat-app-grade connectivity and plugs into any CT reader rather than competing with one.
| Difficulty | Hard (54/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹1.2–2.2 Cr |
| Time to launch | 9–15 months |
The code is the easy part. The hard part is government selling, with tenders, slow payments and a new health secretary every two years. Adoption needs a neurologist roster that answers at 2 a.m. and nurses who press the button every single time. Scope takes discipline too, because the moment the product starts interpreting scans it needs a device licence.
Probably not a device licence for version one, as long as it stays workflow software. Get that in writing though.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Keep AI away from reading the CT or deciding who gets the drug. That turns Strokelink into a licensed medical device, and the neurologist should make that call anyway.
Want to work out the AI layer for Strokelink? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I like this one for a founder who has sold to state health systems and can sit patiently through procurement. If you want a quick SaaS sale or a wearable then look elsewhere.
First, prove that one district hospital using the app cuts door-to-needle time and never runs out of drug over three months. That pilot is your entire pitch.
My estimate is ₹1.2–2.2 Cr to launch, covering the app, a hub neurologist network and a long state pilot. The kit has the detail.
Not a device licence if it only handles workflow and messaging, but get a written regulatory view. Add scan reading or EEG and you need a CDSCO licence.
Yes, the model works wherever district hospitals lack neurologists. Software and health-data rules change by country though, so check with your local regulator.
The free Strokelink validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the device-licensing and data-protection checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for hospitals and health officials, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Strokelink or something close to it? The make-or-break work is getting one state or hospital chain to run a measured pilot without letting the product drift into device territory, and I've helped founders through exactly that kind of balancing act. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.