by Sudhir Ahluwalia | VigorBuddy.com |
I met two healthcare startup founders at Surge 2016 Bengaluru India. The event was organized by the Irish web summit team led by Paddy Cosgrave. Over 5000 people from seventy countries attended this two day event held on February 23rd and 24th.
Dr Antriksh Patel a homeopathic doctor has started a venture – Arkai Healthcare (www.arkaihealthcare.com).
Dr Maulik Darji, another Gujarati MBBS doctor has conceptualized another healthcare service providing platform. He has named his company after the Hindu event Kumbh (www. healthkumbh.com) .
There were other startups focusing on the healthcare sector that attended the event. However I could find time to interview two – Arkai Healthcare and Healthkumbh.
Arkai Health Care is using a web application to service healthcare need of users of Gujarat State. The service is proposed to be extended to other regions too within India and internationally.
The app is available for download on both android and ios platforms. Patel’s initial intention was to build an app that can provide help to people in a health emergency. Simply put Arkai Health Care could be described as an online health emergency 911 platform.
At the backend is a network of hospitals, clinics, ambulance providers, doctors and paramedics that respond to a notified emergency.
An emergency event notified on the platform automatically triggers the nearest health facility. This heads up gives the facility lead time to prepare. By default, information gets relayed to a facility nearest to the location of the emergency event.
Healthkumbh:
It is not just patients who seek good doctors; doctors too seek more patients. Doctors like other professionals want to enhance their brand and reputation for quality. Healthkumbh is a platform for doctors. They register voluntarily on the platform, post case studies and give health tips. This gives them visibility before prospective patients and prestige among their peers.
The registration service is free for doctors. Healthkumbh revenue model too is based on commission against business secured. The commission will come from the registered doctor receiving business through the platform.
Both Arkai Health Care and Healthkumbh platforms are built on open source technology and are examples of frugal engineering. Revenue inflows are yet to come in. Unlike Silicon Valley were funders pitch in at the concept stage, Asian fund houses like to wait and assure themselves on the ability of the Founders to generate revenues.
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About Sudhir
Sudhir Ahluwalia is a business consultant. He has been management consulting head of Asia’s largest IT outsourcing company Tata Consultancy Services, business advisor to multiple companies, columnist and author of upcoming book on herbs-Holy Herbs. He has been a member of the Indian Forest Service. His webpage is: www.sudhirahluwalia.com