How is Kota based startup MedCords making healthcare ecosystem accessible for all?

In a country with a growing population, it is difficult for everyone to have access to standard, effective and economical health solutions. The majority of the Indian population still resides in tier II and tier III cities with inadequate health care facilities. They do not have access to smartphones and proper internet reception, making online medicine deliveries still a challenge for many online pharmacies.  Understanding the plight of these residents, Nikhil Baheti, Saida Dhanavath, and Shreyans Mehta founded an online healthcare platform MedCords in 2016 in Kota, Rajasthan. The startup aims to furnish effective healthcare solutions to the users by enabling order of medicines and consultation with the doctor at a convenient place.

The startup, further, aims to cater to the consumers who cannot provide quality healthcare by venturing towards the urban cities. During the COVID-19 breakout, Rajasthan Government tied up with the startup to provide around the clock assistance. Together, they also delivered essential medications during the lockdown. Currently, MedCords works in 7 districts of Rajasthan, helping more than 10,000 patients each day through their Aayu and Sehat Sathi App.

The Team

Nikhil Baheti, Saida Dhanavath, and Shreyans Mehta are the brains behind MedCords. Nikhil and Shreyans are childhood friends who share a similar passion for helping people medically. Shreyans comes from a family of doctors and Nikhil has always lived nearby a large hospital. So, both of them have a clear idea of how the Indian health care sector functions. Later, they included Saida in the team, who also shares the same concern about reforming the Indian Health Care sector. Before the trio founded MedCords, they ventured to various villages for extensive research on the needs of rural India and covered more than 800 villages, even before establishing MedCords.

Implementation

MedCords is breaking through all the hurdles by innovating in the field of how internet pharmacies work. To serve the purpose of different consumers and pharmacy owners, MedCords has incorporated two separate applications. They are Aayu and Sehat Sathi. The Aayu application helps end-users with a platform to search for medicines in the nearby area and get them delivered at their doorsteps. The Aayu android application also incorporates artificial intelligence for the end-users to consult doctors online with an average prescription time of less than one minute, and archive their medical reports for future references.

“We have Sehat Sathi that enables offline local chemists (medical stores) to bring their stores online. Here, we connect them with their potential customers online. Using the Sehat Sathi application, chemists can also offer doctor consultations to their customers. This also helps reduce the delivery time of the medicines, unlike many of our competitors. We promise to deliver medication to the doorstep of the user in less than 40 minutes,” state the company founders.

The availability of smartphones and weak logistic chains in tier II and tier III cities have always been the prime challenge. The Sehat Sathi application also works for customers who do not have any access to the internet. Using this application, local chemists can arrange a consultation on behalf of customers without a smartphone.

The Customer

A specially-abled user of the startup, Salahuddin Shaikh suffers from acidity. He opted for MedCords to consult a doctor which he could not visit physically. Via MedCords, a specialist doctor resolved his case in 6 minutes, very much to his convenience.

“Another great case of the startup's success story was a family of 5 from Kanpur; a couple, their father and 2 daughters aged 2 and 5. The family took one free consult for their father for stress. Happy with the experience, they then took two paid consults for their little daughters for cold and throat problems. Satisfied with both, they decided to purchase the Aayu card! They've then taken another consult from their subscription, this time for the wife. Fully satisfied with all four consults. Another amazing part- All four different doctors that took their consults are from different cities. So, we can safely say that MedCords has provided complete umbrella protection to this, and numerous families now all over India!” states one of the founders.

Since its inception, it has reached over 13 states and serving more than 30 lakh users in partnership with more than 25000 drugstores, and 5000+ specialist doctors.