Frequently Asked Questions

MyVaak is a browser-based tool that speaks 29 structured first-contact questions aloud in a patient’s own language. The patient answers yes or no, and a formatted clinical note builds as they go, ready to copy into your patient management system. There is nothing to install, and patient details stay on your device.

Whoever greets the patient first: general practice reception, health care assistants, nurses, urgent care and after-hours teams, ambulance crews, emergency departments, rural clinics, aged care, prison health and refugee services.

Any trained team member can run an assessment - the questions, order and wording are built in. A clinician should review every note and make every clinical decision. We recommend a short internal briefing (15 minutes is enough) before your team uses it with patients.

Any practice tablet, phone or PC with an up-to-date web browser. There is no app to install. Some organisations will still want their IT or privacy lead to review it - our Privacy Policy lists exactly what is and is not stored.

Yes. MyVaak does not work offline yet. Test it on your clinic’s own devices before using it with a patient, because languages that use the device’s built-in voice can sound different from one device to another.

Usually three to five minutes for all 29 questions, including the spoken introduction.

The questions follow the ABCDE sequence (Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability) and add pain, medical history and cultural questions such as fasting. The yes/no format draws on general principles of structured nurse telephone triage. MyVaak is not affiliated with, and does not reproduce, any licensed triage product. All 29 questions, their order and how they are flagged are published on the How It Works page.

No. MyVaak groups answers that usually need prompt attention (for example, difficulty breathing) at the top of the note so the clinician sees them first. It does not diagnose, score, or decide priority - the clinician does.

No. MyVaak covers structured first contact - walk-ins, after hours, and the wait for an interpreter. For informed consent, mental health, complex history and any real conversation, use a qualified interpreter.

No. MyVaak has not been assessed or registered as a medical device by Medsafe or any other regulator. It is designed as a communication aid that records a patient’s own yes/no answers for a clinician to review.

Partly, and we would rather say so plainly. A Clinical Advisory Panel of GPs is reviewing the question set and that review is not finished. MyVaak has not been through a clinical trial. Clinician feedback is actively wanted.

Ajit Kumar Nair, founder of MyMate Limited in Auckland. He is not a clinician: his background is 11+ years at the Ministry of Social Development, 5+ years in accessibility and public-service design at MBIE, and 35+ years in design and web development. That is exactly why clinical review and clinician feedback matter so much to us.

In an immediate life-threatening emergency - call 111. Also not for a mental health crisis, informed consent before a procedure, a patient who is unresponsive or severely distressed, or young children who cannot reliably answer yes or no. In aged care, use it only with a carer or family member supporting the patient. Arrange a qualified interpreter in each of these situations.

Right 5 of the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights gives every patient the right to effective communication in a form and language they understand. MyVaak helps with that in the first minutes of contact. It opens with a spoken introduction in the patient’s language and records the time the patient agreed to continue. It does not replace an interpreter where one is reasonably available.

Repeat it, check the volume, and confirm the right language is selected. The question is also shown on screen in the patient’s language. If understanding is still unclear, stop and arrange an interpreter.

26 languages are live. Each one uses the same 29 questions in the same order. More are being added - tell us which language your patients need.

Both, depending on the language. Where native speakers have recorded the questions, MyVaak plays those recordings. Otherwise it uses the text-to-speech voice built into the device, which varies in quality between devices.

Translations are produced with a mix of native speakers and machine-assisted drafting, and we keep having them checked by native speakers. If you notice a translation that reads oddly, please email us - we fix it quickly.

Yes. Email us with the language your patient community needs. Native speakers who can record the questions or review a translation are especially welcome.

As far as possible, but there are limits. Many languages carry significant regional variation, and a question written in a standard form may be unfamiliar to some speakers. If you spot a problem, tell us.

Yes. Te reo Māori is available so that patients who prefer to speak Māori can be asked in te reo. Most te reo speakers are also fluent in English; offering te reo is about the patient’s right to use their language, not only about a language barrier.

The patient’s name, date of birth, answers and the note stay in the browser on your device. They are not sent to our servers. They are cleared when you tap End and clear, after 10 minutes without activity, when a new assessment starts, or when the browser tab closes.

For each completed assessment, an anonymous usage row linked to your practice: the language, the date and time, how many questions were answered, how many answers were flagged, the pain score, and the helpfulness rating if you give one. No names, dates of birth, individual answers or note text. We also keep practice account details, login records (including IP address) for security, and anonymous website page counts.

The assessment is gone - that is by design. Copy or print the note into your patient management system before you finish.

No tracking or advertising cookies, and no analytics companies. The practice and admin login areas use a session cookie to keep you signed in. The payment page loads Stripe, which sets its own fraud-prevention cookies.

We designed MyVaak so that patient details do not leave the clinic device, and we aim to meet the Privacy Act 2020 and the Health Information Privacy Code 2020. The Privacy Policy explains exactly what we hold and why. Your practice remains responsible for any note it copies into its own records.

$1,999 NZD per practice per year (no GST charged). That covers every team member, every live language and unlimited assessments. Your first licence runs 13 months for the price of 12, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

No. MyMate Limited is not registered for GST, so no GST is charged.

No. There is no per-assessment fee, no per-seat fee and no integration fee.

Organisations with several sites can licence MyVaak per site or across a network. Email us with the number of sites for a written quote.

Through the Founding Practice Programme: 5 of 5 places are open, giving 3 months of full access at no cost. No card is needed to apply. You can also book a free demo at any time.

Nothing automatic - no card is taken to start and nothing is charged at the end. If MyVaak has earned its place, you can subscribe on the standard licence. If not, you have still helped make it better.

Yes. If you cancel within 30 days of your first payment, we refund it in full. The details are in the Terms of Service.

Email us any time. Your licence stays active until the end of the period you have paid for and then does not renew.

A structured summary showing the language, date and time, when the patient agreed to continue, answers to review first, notable answers, and every other response - in the same format every time.

Tap Copy, then paste into the patient record in whichever system you use. You can also print it. There is no direct integration - the note is designed to paste in cleanly.

Yes. One licence covers everyone at one practice location, on any of your devices. Branches at other locations are licensed separately.

Yes. Your practice dashboard shows how many assessments were run, in which languages, and how often answers were flagged, and you can print or save a report as a PDF. Each practice only ever sees its own data.

Not yet. The design draws on published research on interpreter errors and adverse events in patients with limited English (Flores et al. 2003 and 2012; Divi et al. 2007) and on the ABCDE approach. MyVaak itself is early-stage, and we welcome independent evaluation or research partnerships.

We would welcome that conversation - a demo for your team, a pilot across your network, or a more formal collaboration. Email us.

Founder Ajit Kumar Nair, at info@myvaak.co.nz.