Startup Circle: How is Doctor On Call providing "Swasthya Sewa" to blue-collar workers in tier 2 and 3 cities?

From physical care to dentistry, cardiology, etc, a wide range of specialities is now being delivered with just a click because of the ongoing presence and usage of telemedicine. Telehealth has widened the use of virtual visits to support a wide range of specialities that manage chronic illness. The pandemic has made each speciality doctor rethink how they conduct appointments. Here's where Doctor On Call comes in.

Many aspects of chronic disease prevention and management can be handled via video from a patient’s home or rural hospitals connecting with larger healthcare systems because of telehealth. Because of COVID-19, telehealth is one of the top health sectors yielding a high patient satisfaction score. Although it has been around for years, it has seen its biggest usage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read Karan Chopra, Co-Founder, Doctor On Call tell about the journey of providing a "Doctor" on call.

1. What is Doctor On Call about?

Doctor on call is a digital healthcare delivery provider platform targeting tier 2,3 cities. We offer tele-OPD via our in-house doctors and provide hospitalization through our partners that use our suite of remote monitoring and training services. We train the local doctors to handle complex cases in small cities and manage the entire patient journey via our command centre in Gurgaon

2. How did you come up with the idea?

India suffers from unequal access to healthcare. While India’s middle class and above in Metros have very good access to doctors and hospitals, people in tier 2/3 cities and even blue-collar workers in metros don’t have that kind of luxury. This stems from both the lack of affordability and dearth of good specialists serving tier 2 and 3 cities. Hence, most patients seek healthcare from untrained and unqualified providers.

DOC harnesses digital connectivity to provide affordable quality healthcare for this TG. Our “Swasthya Sewa” model juxtaposes technology and human touch to deliver sustainable healthcare.

3. What is your business/market growth?

We have crossed half a million dollars in sale since launching in July. We are well on track to double our revenues by the end of this year and cross a million dollar in revenues.

Since launching our telemedicine subscription product in July for Tier-2,3 cities, we have grown >100% Month on Month even as lockdown has relaxed.

4. What cities are you in, presently?

We are operational pan-India with our telemedicine product. Our hospital product will be live in 150 cities by the end of this financial year.

5. Who are your consumers?

DOC is focused on India’s blue-collar workers and people in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. DOC will continue to innovate to provide a better healthcare experience for this TG. There are multiple vectors of growth we’re considering at the moment. Adding new service lines (insurance, lab testing, etc.), and adding speciality care (oncology, neurology) on the platform.

We are making a tremendous impact at tier 2,3 levels. While most startups have focused on the top 10 cities and trying to solve for the convenience aspect, we have gone ahead and made a real on-ground difference. We are re-imagining healthcare for people with no prior access to quality doctors. With us, patients do not travel long distances to receive a doctor's consultation. Patients choose hospitals fully aware of clinical and financial implications.

6. What are your Post-Covid plans?

Life never stopped us for us during Covid. We’ll continue to focus on digital health in the foreseeable future.

7. About the Funding

We are funded by the best capital there is - our revenues.