Project overview

Subham Khandual | MERN Stack Developer — Thu, 14 May 2026 03:33:00 +0000

How I Built Swasthya Setu — An AI-Powered Health App Using the MERN Stack

By Subham Khandual | MERN Stack Developer | Final Year CSE Student, Bhubaneswar, India

👋 Introduction

Hi, I'm Subham Khandual, a Final Year B.Tech Computer Science student from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. I'm a MERN Stack Developer passionate about using technology to solve real-world problems.

In this post, I want to share the story behind Swasthya Setu — an AI-powered health monitoring web application I built as my final year project. I'll walk you through the problem I was trying to solve, the tech stack I chose, the challenges I faced, and what I learned along the way.

👉 Live Demo: https://swasthyasetu-tsbt.vercel.app
👉 GitHub: https://github.com/SubhamKhandual007

🏥 What is Swasthya Setu?

Swasthya Setu (meaning "Health Companion" in Hindi/Odia) is an AI-powered health app designed to help patients and healthcare providers monitor health data intelligently.

The core idea was simple: millions of people in India, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, don't have easy access to regular health check-ins. What if a web app could act as a smart health companion — tracking vitals, flagging risks, and giving users actionable insights?

Key Features:

🤖 AI-based health risk analysis
📊 Patient dashboard with real-time health metrics
🔒 Secure authentication and user data privacy
📱 Fully responsive design for mobile users
🏥 Healthcare provider interface

🛠️ Tech Stack

Here's everything I used to build Swasthya Setu:

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React.js, Tailwind CSS, Vite
Backend	Node.js, Express.js
Database	MongoDB (Atlas)
Authentication	JWT, Clerk
AI/ML	Python-based prediction model
Deployment	Vercel (Frontend), Render (Backend)

I chose the MERN stack because it allows full JavaScript development across the entire application — from the React frontend to the Node.js backend to MongoDB. This consistency made it much easier to develop and debug as a solo developer.

💡 Why I Built This

During my third year, I noticed how underserved rural healthcare really is in India. A close family experience made me think: what if patients had a smart app that could monitor their health data and alert them before things got serious?

That thought became Swasthya Setu.

I also wanted to challenge myself technically — integrating AI/ML into a MERN app was something I hadn't done before, and I knew it would push my skills significantly.

🚧 Challenges I Faced

1. Integrating Python ML Model with Node.js Backend

The biggest challenge was connecting a Python-based machine learning prediction model with my Node.js backend. I solved this by running the ML model as a microservice and communicating via REST API calls.

2. Handling Real-Time Data

Displaying health metrics in real time on the patient dashboard required careful state management in React. I used useEffect hooks and polling to keep the dashboard updated without overloading the server.

3. Designing for Non-Tech Users

Healthcare users — especially older patients — aren't always tech-savvy. I had to keep the UI extremely simple and intuitive, which meant several redesigns of the dashboard.

4. Deployment Configuration

Getting the frontend (Vercel) and backend (Render) to communicate correctly in production, with proper CORS settings and environment variables, took longer than expected. But it was a valuable DevOps lesson.

📚 What I Learned

Building Swasthya Sathi as a solo MERN Stack Developer taught me:

Full Stack Architecture — designing a system end-to-end, from database schema to UI
API Design — creating clean, RESTful APIs with proper error handling
AI Integration — connecting ML models to web applications
React State Management — handling complex data flows in a real app
Deployment & DevOps — managing production environments across multiple platforms
User-Centric Design — building for real users, not just for developers

🔗 Other Projects I've Built

Alongside Swasthya Sathi, I've been working on several other projects:

🩸 Blood Cancer Prediction — ML model using Jupyter Notebook to predict blood cancer risk
🌾 Crop Recommendation System — ML-based crop suggestion app for farmers
🛡️ Suraksha Setu — Another web app focused on safety (Live Demo)
🤖 AI Assistant — A conversational AI assistant built with Python

All projects are open source on my GitHub: github.com/SubhamKhandual007

🚀 What's Next for Swasthya Setu

I'm planning to add:

Real-time notifications via WebSockets
Wearable device data integration
Multilingual support (Odia, Hindi, English)
Doctor appointment booking module

🤝 Let's Connect

I'm Subham Khandual, a MERN Stack Developer actively looking for opportunities — internships, collaborations, or full-time roles after graduation.

If you're working on something interesting in web development, AI, or healthtech, I'd love to connect!

🌐 Portfolio: subhamportfoliodemo.vercel.app
💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/subham-khandual
🐙 GitHub: github.com/SubhamKhandual007
📧 Email: subhamkhandual215@gmail.com

If you found this post helpful or interesting, drop a ❤️ and follow me for more content on MERN Stack development, AI integration, and real-world project builds!

Tags: #mernstack #react #nodejs #mongodb #webdev #healthtech #ai #javascript #beginners #showdev

DEV Community: Subham Khandual | MERN Stack Developer