Despite having a robust medical infrastructure in India, the rural areas are still lagging in terms of access to healthcare facilities. In such a scenario e-health solutions have acted as a game-changer owing to their cost effective tools to improve healthcare facilities. Telemedicine, which is a part of e-health solutions, has witnessed a rise due to its affordability and accessibility. A large part of the Indian population has leveraged facilities provided by Medpho, a healthcare service provider through telemedicine, focusing mainly on the Tier-2 and Tier-3 market which accounts for approximately 70 percent of the country. The platform delivers telemedicine services which include tele consultancy, primary care and doctors.

Over the course of the last two years, there were several deaths in the country, caused by the inability to connect with a doctor in the time of critical need, despite having mobile and internet connectivity. Patients were unaware of whom to call when faced with an emergency. Having identified this glaring loophole, Shashank Saini founded Medpho in 2020. The perceptive entrepreneur came up with the idea of building a platform that can function as a normal helpline for the Tier-2 and Tier-3 community. With Medpho, people can call and speak to a doctor (teleconsultation) with 24x7 availability and that too free of cost.

Identifying & Overcoming Challenges
The platform has built up a network of highly qualified doctors /hospitals from Tier1/Tier-2 and Tier-3 locations and has also on-boarded super speciality doctors. “From the discovery of a doctor to connection for a tele consultation, primary and secondary/tertiary care services are among the few services that Medpho offers,” explains Shashank. The platform also supports the community by providing medical equipment services, homecare, basic manpower supply and paramedical support for an elderly person. Apart from all this, Medpho works with a few government officials to provide basic primary care and build up a network.

Technology Driven Services
In India, the doctor to patient ratio is 1:1100, due to which setting up hospitals and clinics is difficult. In this case, the only solution is using technology. “The advancement in technology that we are seeing in healthcare has witnessed a boom post-pandemic, and we have realised that technology can also be merged with medical facilities to deliver healthcare services,” says Shashank.

In March, Medpho plans to come up with 100 cloud clinics while partnering with government and nongovernment institutions

To serve the larger community, Medpho leverages a technology through which all the vital information like blood pressure, blood sugar, oxygen level and temperature canbe mapped by just placing the phone screen or the web for 44 seconds in front of the patient’s eyes. This unique tracking feature differentiates the platform from its contemporaries in the market. It also works with artificial intelligence, to come up with solutions that can serve the community better.

The rural regions are the biggest opportunity for the companies that are in Medtech, believes the company. The explosion of data access analytics will shift people to real time pervasive commuting shortly. The healthcare system will shift from a provider centric model to a consumer- centric model, says Shashank.

In March, Medpho plans to come up with 100 cloud clinics while partnering with government and non-government institutions. With a boom in teleconsultation, it is no doubt that Medpho will gain a larger user base in the coming years.