Who's building this

Dr. M. Choundappan

Board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon, practicing in Salem, Tamil Nadu — and the doctor who writes the code behind SurgMD and NexEMR Lite.

Software built by someone who's stood in the OR, not just prompted one.

There's a flood of "AI-built" hospital software right now — generated in a weekend, never used by the people who wrote it. I'm a practicing plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Salem, Tamil Nadu, specializing in reconstructive microsurgery, trauma reconstruction, and aesthetic procedures. Every workflow in Chounda's products — SurgMD, NexEMR Lite — comes from what I actually needed at the desk between cases, not a feature list assembled from someone else's assumptions about medicine.

I got frustrated watching hospitals like mine — in a tier-2/tier-3 town, not a metro — pay enterprise EMR prices for software built around workflows we'd never touch. We used a fraction of the features and still carried the full cost, and that cost only climbed: recurring licences that increased year on year, for modules gathering dust.

So I'm building it myself instead. Doctor-tested — I use it in my own workflow — and then handed to the people who actually run the front desk: reception, billing, and pharmacy staff with no technical background. If they can't pick it up without hand-holding, it's not done. This is software by a doctor, tested by non-technical staff, for other doctors who are tired of paying enterprise prices for hospital-scale software they'll never fully use.

From Madras Medical College to the operating table
Schooling — until 2007
Early roots in computer science
Studied SQL, C, HTML/CSS, and Visual Basic during school, and won the Australian Talent Test in Computer Science at the international level — long before medicine or software crossed paths professionally.
MBBS — 2013
Madras Medical College, Chennai
One of Asia's oldest medical colleges and the oldest in India — rigorous training that laid the foundation for clinical discipline.
MS General Surgery — 2017
Madras Medical College, Chennai
Postgraduate surgical training that sharpened surgical precision and judgment.
MCh Plastic Surgery — 2020
Madurai Medical College
Logged 1,000 cases over 3 years of residency, focused on complex reconstructive work.
Fellowship, Reconstructive Microsurgery — 2024
Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, Jaipur
Advanced microsurgical training to refine reconstructive technique.
Fellowship, Cosmetic Plastic Surgery — 2025
Tamira Plastic Surgery Center, Chennai
Aesthetic surgical technique under expert mentorship.
Since Oct 2023
Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Dharan Hospital, Salem
Managing cases spanning trauma to cosmetic procedures. Previously Assistant Professor and Senior Resident in Plastic Surgery, Tirunelveli Medical College.
Published, presented, and still practicing

Conferences

Presented at national and regional conferences including APSICON, TANPAPS, and DFSICON, with ongoing CME involvement in diabetic foot management, burns, and soft tissue reconstruction.

Publications

Peer-reviewed papers on necrotizing fasciitis, bear maul injuries, albino patient reconstruction, and rare nerve tumors.

Prof. Sam C. Bose and Dr. Mehboob Ali Award, 2020 — best outgoing PG student in Plastic Surgery.

You're not buying software from a vendor. You're buying it from a colleague.

Every module in NexEMR Lite and every note in SurgMD has been shaped by real cases, real clinics, and real constraints — not a generic template dressed up with AI polish. If it doesn't hold up on a busy OP day, it doesn't ship.