<div><strong>Simar Singh</strong></div><div> </div><div>Sometimes there’s that suspicious rash creeping up. Should you be concerned? You could go to a doctor but there's no time. But you’d rather get an expert opinion. That’s where DocsApp wants to step in, right in your palm, guaranteeing a specialist opinion within half an hour.</div><div> </div><div>Created by two IIT Madras graduates, Satish Kannan and Enbasekar D., DocsApp is a mobile-based application available for download on both the App Store and Play Store, that connects patients with specialist doctors, moving the entire process of consultation online. Its services are available across five departments - Gynaecology, Dermatology, General Medicine, Paediatrics and Psychiatry.</div><div> </div><div>“DocsApp is like the WhatsApp for patients and doctors,” Kannan jokes.</div><div> </div><div>The duo always had an interest in the healthcare space and knew that they wanted to do something in it. Kannan joined Philips Healthcare in Pune and to walk on cardiac and orthopaedic related technology, while Enbasekar worked at the Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre for a year, only to quit to develop DocsApp.</div><div> </div><div>The startup’s tagline—No Appointment, No Travelling, No Waiting, perfectly explains what it essentially does and why people should use it. </div><div> </div><div>“We essentially have three types of customers — people who are too busy to physically make it to the doctor’s, those who are seeking privacy and those in smaller towns who do not have access to specialists who are generally city based,” he says.</div><div> </div><div>According to research, 72 per cent of health issues are common illnesses which do not require a physical examination and 97 per cent of specialist doctors are concentrated in the top ten cities in India.</div><div> </div><div>One time consultations cost Rs 150 and the app connects patients with the relevant specialist who is nearest to them. This can be followed up through chat or call. In case a doctor suggests a physical examination and the consultation is not completed, the money is reimbursed.</div><div> </div><div>Doctors, too, have a good incentive to hop onto the platform. Kannan says, “To grow their practice, doctors have to visit more clinics. Most doctors visit three clinics a day. DocsApp provides a platform for them to grow and also offers more publicity, without all the travelling.”</div><div> </div><div>However, not just any doctor can be on DocsApp. There’s an intensive screening process and all doctors need to have at least five years of experience. It's like recreating the multi-super speciality experience online, the first consultative part at least.</div><div> </div><div>As of today, DocsApp has serviced 25,000 patients and over 150 doctors registered across Delhi, Mumbai and home ground Bengaluru. Kannan hopes to expand this base to at leat 1000 doctors and facilitate a million consultations in the next one year.</div><div> </div><div>Apart from, the on-mobile consultations DocsApp also provides at-home diagnostic services and medicine delivery. The startup has ties with over a thousand labs across the country. The medicine delivery service is limited to Bengaluru at the moment, but Kannan expects this to be rolled out to other cities over the next few months.</div><div> </div><div>The startup was incubated by IIT Madras and Rajesh Sawhney (who is also an investor in the company) led GSF Accelerator. The company has engaged in a larger round of funding but has withheld the details for now.</div><div> </div>
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