More than 70% of India’s population lives in rural areas. There are hardly any dedicated and upgraded medical services in villages. As a result, the rural population has to travel all the way to cities to get even the most basic health checkup. It was to tackle this dreary situation that Satish Kannan and Enbasekar D launched MediBuddy in 2014. It is India’s largest digital healthcare platformgiving customers 24×7 access to high-quality healthcare.
The beginning
The co-founders together participated in a national student innovation competition for which they developed an ECG device. This device could be directly connected to the phone to monitor heart conditions. Its development put them in contact with a number of doctors and hospitals. They saw that people had traversed long distances and had to wait in huge queues before getting access to treatment.
It was at that moment they decided that this situation absolutely had to be changed for the better. They gained experience in health care. Satish joined Philips Healthcare, while Enbasekar worked in a research company developing tele-ophthalmology software. They launched their first product, DocsApp and nearly a decade later led MediBuddy.
“We began with online consultations, but now we cover the full spectrum of health care. We have evolved into a comprehensive digital health care platform, delivering the full length and breadth of health care services,” said Enbasekar. “People in remote areas like Leh want equal health care access, but travelling hundreds of kilometres to cities like Jammu or Srinagar for tests is unrealistic, especially when ill. Attempts to partner with larger hospitals also failed, as they were unwilling to send staff to such remote areas. This left many without essential health tests, even for health insurance requirements. To address this, we began weekly mobile health camps running each Thursday in place of a permanent lab, allowing us to provide essential health care access to people who previously had none.”
Meet the Company
The app boasts of a plethora of digital healthcare services, including online doctor consultations, health check-ups, medicine delivery, lab tests, and hospitalization assistance. Users can access these services through the company’s website or mobile app, which has been downloaded millions of times across India.
There are innovative features like the MediBuddy Gold plan available, which offers unlimited consultations with top doctors across specialties. This allows users to get expert medical advice from the comfort of their own homes.
MediBuddy offers services across 22 specialities, 7,100+ hospitals and clinics, 6,000+ diagnostic centres, and 2,500+ pharmacies. Both “curative” and “preventive” health care needs are taken care of by the app. Curative services cater to patients who are unwell and require immediate medical assistance. Preventive care, on the other hand, helps healthy users maintain their well-being through fitness, diet, regular checkups and biomarker monitoring. These services are available in 16 Indian languages which facilitates a user friendly and non-discriminatory experience. A total gamechanger for the company was to welcome Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan on board as the brand ambassador for the brand.
The Way Ahead
The company has received multiple rounds of funding from top investors, including Sequoia Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners. Looking ahead, MediBuddy has enterprising plans for further expansion, both within the country and internationally. The company has already launched its services in several Southeast Asian countries and is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for digital healthcare services in these markets. It is truly heartwarming to see the journeys of top institute graduates put their degrees to good use, for the benefit and upliftment of the society.
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