‘Doctors On Call’

The telemedicine healthcare market in India is still at its nascent stage but it has great potential to address serious health care issues says Amit Munjal, Founder & CEO, Doctor Insta. Through Doctor Insta, Munjal tells Ashish Sinha the aim is to provide instant medical help anywhere, anytime in India.

How did you plan the roadmap of a Telemedicine startup?
The concept came to me during a trip to Hawaii, wherein I had sprained my ankle and there was no medical help nearby. Then a video consult helped me get the necessary medicament. This experience inspired me to start a firm in India that could bring on-demand preventive and curative healthcare to everyone’s doorstep. Thus Doctor Insta was founded in 2015.

How does the platform work?
The Doctor Instant app works 24×7 and allows to make a voice or a video call to selected doctor — each consultation costing Rs 400 plus tax (about `460 approx). Doctor Insta can be accessed via any smart phone with a minimum bandwidth of 512 mbps over Android & IOS powered devices. It requires a free registration via phone/email before one can ask a question or schedule an appointment. The main interface shows nine tiles representing different categories like Medical, Psychology, Paediatrics, Diet/Nutrition and so on. Selecting a category brings up a new page where the patient can search for a doctor, view information on doctors that work with the app as well as get details on what is treated under the selected category.

Why did you make an app for Indian audiences, when you know that the telemedicine industry in India is still at a nascent stage?
The Indian online healthcare sector has an addressable market estimated at $25 billion out of the $126 billion healthcare industry. As India’s masses increase in affluence and awareness, they are demanding access to better health care. But the supply of conventionally-delivered health care services cannot keep up with the ever-increasing demand. Considering the rising gap in healthcare services in the country, telemedicine which offers remote diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of patients via videoconferencing or Internet has the potential to address the widening gap among both the urban and rural population. It is a promising platform which will provide emergency consultation across segments that include Medical, Pediatrics (Kids), Psychology, Diet & Nutrition, Gynecology, Dermatology, Psychiatry, Sexology, Homeopathy. Also, for disabled and senior citizens, it will be a blessing as travelling for them is troublesome.

With $3 Million funding, how do you plan to fare in the Indian market?
Doctor Insta is currently running its services at a pan-India level through B2C (retail) and B2B2C/ B2G Channels (corporate & governments). Long-term partnerships and large consumer base have prompted to add more corporate clients. This year the company has collaborated with large companies such as American Express, SRF, Channel Play, Videocon, Muthoot Finance etc. through which it has covered more than 2,00,000 employees and their families.

Also, Doctor Insta has partnered with UK based Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Company, Your MD and US based 2nd Opinion Consults Platform- Second Opinion Experts. With an aim to fulfil almost all medical requirements of the customers, the company is striving hard to make alliances where the customer is benefitted the most. With these alliances, customers can now have second opinion consultations, pre-operation prospecting and post-operation follow-ups.

As an entrepreneur, how do you see this concept bridging the gap in the Indian healthcare sector?
IAMAI studied that mobile Internet usage in India is projected to double and cross the 300 million mark by 2017. The report also said that the mobile data services would help to tackle key issues plaguing health, education, finance, agriculture and governance in India. Doctor Insta is already experiencing the impact of the scenario and currently conducts over 1000 consultations a day across various issues on their App which runs on Android and iOS devices. Since its inception in December 2015, the company has over more than 5, 00,000 app installations and more than a million users. Presently, Doctor Insta provides consultation across Medicine: 21%, Dermatology: 19%, Gynecology: 15%, Sexology: 15%, Diet & Nutrition: 7%, Gastro: 6%, Pediatrics: 4%, Psychology: 4%, Neurology: 3%, Urology: 2%, Others: 4%.