Tell our readers about Kulcare and your professional journey.
I’m an engineer by training, and developing technology at startups and Fortune 500s for the last 15 years. I witnessed India’s healthcare challenges first-hand on account of my own family’s healthcare obstacles. The more I dug in, the more I realized that India’s doctors desperately needed thoughtful tech innovations to improve not just their patients’ lives, but their own lives as well.
We began piloting our early doctor platform in January of 2020 and now have directly facilitated over 250,000 patient visits. At its core, Kulcare helps doctors build thriving practices. We’ve made it extremely easy for them to adopt world-class practice management technology, at their own pace, and at little to no cost.
Doctors are the heroic caretakers of our society, yet they remain under-appreciated by society and under-served by technology. Doctors want to provide excellent and cutting-edge patient experiences. But to access those innovations, tech companies are forcing them into gig economies that disempower them and devalue their services.
We take a completely different approach. We let doctors own their success, choose their partners, and keep 100% of their patient relationships. We’re gratified that so many of our doctors are effusive in their support of our product and our mission. That they choose Kulcare over big, well-known products reinforces our mission and our passion to keep improving for them.
Could you please explain how Technology is helping in providing a better health care system in India.
India’s biggest health care challenge is access to primary care. In fact, it’s a crisis. And while technology can’t create more doctors, it can extend our doctors’ capacity, reach, and efficiency.
That should be our focus. We can address this challenge in three ways: 1) By making it easier for patients to connect with doctors–digital queuing, online booking, telemedicine, remote care; 2) Helping doctors connect with colleagues or industry experts to extend care—digital referrals, care networks, remote collaboration; and, 3) Improving the lives of doctors, themselves—reduced in-clinic stress, happier staff, reduced financial anxiety, and practice growth they own.
Helps us understand the concept of a Digital virtual care platform and how this will transform the health care system in India
The “virtual care platform” brings the power of digital (fast, networked, extensible, ML-enabled, secure) to key steps in a doctor’s care workflow. Adopted widely (remember that less than 10% of Indian doctors use digital tools at all) existing tools, alone, will have profoundly positive systemwide effects.
Doctors are the heroic caretakers of our society, yet they remain under-appreciated. Technology is no exception. Doctors want to provide excellent and cutting-edge patient experiences. But to access those innovations, tech companies are forcing doctors into gig economies that disempower and devalue their service.
The biggest practice management companies in India actually aren’t built for doctors. They are lead-gen vehicles for acquiring patients and distributing them to doctors for a fee. Through digital healthcare we need to focus on the needs of doctors and provide them affordable, leading-edge tools that expand their services, capacity, and business.
Ultimately, it’s creative innovation that will transform India’s health care access and outcomes.
Best doctors are generally available in metro cities in India. How technology is a game-changer for the doctors who are operating in rural India
India’s heroic rural doctors need and want collaboration with city-based hospitals and specialists. This is a gap that only technology can bridge.
We need to build that digital infrastructure. At Kulcare, our “hub-and-spoke” product enables rural doctors to consult virtually with the right providers, extending their care capacity and forming invaluable partnerships.
What is the role of technology as India is considered the pharmacy of the world?
Because India’s pharma infrastructure is abundant, our aim is improving efficacy/outcomes by focusing upstream in the Rx process. By giving doctors fast, virtualized tools to learn about, investigate, and access the latest medications, we help them make the best Rx decisions for their patients.
This interview was authored by Vishwasjeet Singh, Editor-in-Chief, Estrade Business News. To share more stories kindly email: vishwasjeet@estrade.in
