Close on the heels of Amazon's Alexa-powered devices, which can answer health-related questions, Lybrate has empowered its Facebook Messenger chatbot to answer health queries.

Users of Lybrate in India will be able to get health advice and tips from the online platform's chatbot.

"It is exciting to be India's first healthcare company to be on Messenger Platform and be able to provide smooth doctor access to people and enable them to consume health information that is shared by doctors who have amassed a wealth of medical knowledge over so many years. It is one more step towards letting people in the country be more serious about their health," noted Saurabh Arora, Lybrate's CEO and Founder.

Lybrate is essentially an online-based doctor consultation platform that has now protracted its offerings to the popular messaging service from Facebook. The platform has over 100,000 doctors who are part of the service, where users can pay a fee for one-on-one consultations.

These one-on-one conversations can be conducted over a phone call, video call, or text. For free consultations, the platform deploys algorithms that are based on machine learning. Launched in January 2015, Lybrate boasts over 3 million app downloads.

What Will The Facebook Messenger Bot Do?

The Facebook Messenger chatbot from Lybrate will basically enable people to ask health-oriented questions (Ask Lybrate), take a health-based quiz (Take a Health Quiz), or even get health tips (Health Tips for You). The effort is in a bid to make the online platform more engaging. 

How Does The Lybrate Bot For Facebook Messenger Work? 

Step 1: Download the Lybrate app for iOS or Android. You can also access the Lybrate chatbot from its Facebook page.

If you are accessing Facebook Messenger on the PC use the following URL: https://m.me/lybrate

Step 2: Add the chatbot to your Facebook Messenger chat list.

Step 3: Once added, interact with the bot like you would with any other user on your contact list.

Remember to provide specifics when making a health-related query - your gender, age etc. - to elicit an accurate response.

Currently, you cannot book a doctor for a consultation via the chatbot.