Tell our readers about Connect2MyDoctor? your professional journey.
Connect2MyDoctor is a comprehensive virtual platform that is fully HIPAA compliant and ISO 27001 certified that enables doctors and patients to stay connected with each other. Connect2MyDoctor manages all the logistics of discovery, doctor profiles, scheduled/on request, doctor profiles, eRx, lab requisitions, payments across channels and medicare, care delivery across video, audio and chat, AI-based speech-to-text (NLP) for clinical notes, AR patient education, call recording, multi-party and more tertiary and primary care, remote patient triage, home care and direct to consumer telehealth across the web and mobile apps.
Connect2MyDoctor is headquartered in Melbourne and has a development centre in Bengaluru, India, and recently opened an office in Dubai to manage the business and new opportunities in the MEA region.
Since its start, Connect2MyDoctor has assisted over 5,00,000 patients across 15+ countries to stay connected with specialists across multi and super speciality partner hospitals in India, UAE, Bahrain, and Turkey.
How did Connect2MyDoctor start?
The idea for Connect2MyDoctor came about in 2012 when, soon after moving with his family from Dubai to Australia, the founder, – Pramod Kutty’s daughter, needed to see a medical specialist. “When we were in Dubai and India, we did not have the long wait period to meet a specialist.
While waiting for my turn, we found many contradicting reports and details on Dr Google/Internet. Having spent over 15 years in product management and business operations, I felt there should be a better way to do this, “says Pramod. This experience, and Pramod’s subsequent market research with doctors and patients globally, led him to launch Connect2MyDoctor in 2016.
Please throw some light on the significant adoption of the digital healthcare system in India
While the healthcare organisations have been working on the digitisation process for some time now, the actual significant adoption in the form of an explosion came during the initial days of COVID. The lockdowns leading to hospitals not being accessible, doctors not being able to connect with their patients, patients not able to get access to care in the form or access, medical products, and services, etc., made all of the parties involved look for alternatives, and hence the adoption of digital tools and services rose.
Even at the regulatory level, the guidelines on telemedicine were released in March 2020, when telemedicine has been around for many years prior to the pandemic. This is not just the case in India, but globally, the adoption of digital health tools and services has been on the rise since the rise of the pandemic.
All the players in the eco-system have realised the benefits of going digital in terms of costs, conveniences, and efficiency. There was a rise, and now with life getting back to normal, people have gone back to what they are used to but the numbers have tapered off at a level that there is only upwards from here.
Help us understand the importance of technology in transforming the medical infrastructure in India
It is a known fact that most of the people in India live in Tier 2, 3, 4 cities, and the major doctors (specialists) are in Tier 1 cities. With people needing to access to quality healthcare and the accessibility gap widening, it only becomes more pertinent for technology to bridge this gap.
For the successful implementation of national health policies to do what it has been designed to do, there needs to be a pipeline to carry this information back and forth. This pipeline is the internet; via computers, mobile phones, to areas where people live. This will bridge the gap for people to get access to the best care or medicines or test kits being accessible through health care workers through mobile phones, tablets etc.
We would like to know your thoughts on how technology and virtual healthcare has helped during COVID
The COVID-19 pandemic has made remote healthcare solutions go from a niche rarity to a preferred mode of care. Its ability to ensure physical distance and prevent the spread of infection among providers and patients has been invaluable. The need for remote healthcare solutions ensures practitioners stay safe during the care period and patients can still have access to care.
Your thoughts about why “India is called the pharmacy of the world”
When the world had shut its doors, Indian pharmaceutical industry rose to this challenge, supported countries by supplying medicines, vaccines, lifestyle and medical technology. This gave the world to look at India as a huge alternative to other large medicine manufacturing countries who were not able to meet the global requirement. Historically, India as a country has kept service to people above everything and when the opportunity came Indian government, and the pharmaceutical industry walked the talk.
This interview was authored by Vishwasjeet Singh, Editor-in-Chief, Estrade Business News. To share more stories kindly email: vishwasjeet@estrade.in
