Doc, no more in the dock

This outfit helps medical professionals share, learn and collaborate with the help of relevant medical content

Every time we need an answer to our ailments, we turn to doctors. But whom do doctors turn to when they are in doubt? It's here that startup—Buzz4health—comes into the picture. The New-Delhi based company, launched in March 2015, and started by Hitesh Ganjoo and Tushar Gupta (who previously worked with Stryker, a Fortune 500 Medical Technologies firm) noticed the "lack in the healthcare ecosystem from a training and education perspective".

"We realised that not all medical professionals have access to the right tools at the right time. We witnessed lack of infrastructural facilities, high operational costs and negligible use of technology in the healthcare domain in India. The problem was particularly acute in tier-2 and tier-3 cities where the doctor: patient ratio is abysmally low, and the doctors there have less of an access to quality medical training," Ganjoo says.

Keeping the scenario in mind, the duo decided to bridge the gap in the country's medical information realm with the help of technology. After vast and in-depth research and interactions with senior doctors, they created a collaborative platform for doctors.

THE GREAT IDEA

The lack of the "unmet need of continuous and credible access to relevant medical education" was the seed of the idea. "Every doctor needs to stay updated and relevant. And this we thought can be done through various 'continuous medical education' programs," Ganjoo says.

Most of these programs, they felt, were held in physical conferences and workshops, which was limiting the potential reach and scale. It was this attempt to remove these physical barriers, which gave rise to buzz4health.

HOW IT WORKS

Buzz4health is available in the form of a mobile app which works on Android and iPhone and web. Every day, real medical cases are posted by doctors and their peers join them in solving them and learning through these cases. When a doctor's feedback is endorsed by another verified doctor, the contributor earns social currency called credit points. These credit points can be redeemed for availing access to paid/premium content and certifications as well.

SET-UP

The company has been based in New Delhi since its inception. They work out of a 1000 sq ft office.

MONEY MATTERS

They've raised over 300,000+ USD so far through angel funding. While the app is free for doctors, there is an in-app charge on premium content and certification.

THE CHALLENGES

"The Indian startup ecosystem is still in its very early phase as far as healthtech startups go. Finding the right mentor, the right investor and the right collaboration opportunities often is tricky and challenging due to the fairly new nature and requirements of these businesses," Ganjoo says. For example, a lot of people confuse their app as one for facebook for doctors or another social networking platform, which is far from their area of work.

FIRST CLIENT

They conducted an online certification program in conjunction with faculty from AIIMS, Medanta and NH hospital.

This was their first pilot in which they were able to monetise using over 1,00,000 registered doctors on their platform.

REVENUE MODEL

Since they are in the initial stages of the business, at present their revenue flows in from short accredited paid medical programs as a part of the premium content on the platform.

PAY OFF

When a doctor from a remote corner of Maharashtra posted an emergency case, wherein a person's hand was accidentally cut off in a sugar cane machine, the doctor handling the case turned to buzz4health for advice. With suggestions from other doctors, he was able to render timely help. "This was a case of a doctor with very little infrastructural support where our platform could provide him the right input. A moment like this reinforces the fact that we are on the right path," he says.

FUTURE PLANS

Their goals for the year 2016 are two-fold. First they plan to scale up to encompass doctors with several specialisations so that they have a sustainable business. And second to acquire three lakh doctors in the next 12 months. "We plan to launch more premium content while partnering with different knowledge partners who are experts/teachers in their particular medical specialisation. It's to give them a platform to scale their reach and content. We also want to capture and provide market intelligence data like polls and surveys to the medical industry where doctors' feedback is essential," Ganjoo says.

BUZZ4HEALTH.COM

Founders: Hitesh Ganjoo (32) and Tushar Gupta (34)

Started in: March 2015

USP: A platform for medical professionals to share, learn and collaborate with the help of relevant medical content

No of employees: 10

To know more visit us our website.

Posted by: Vanhishikha Bhargava (http://www.buzz4health.com/blog/authors.html )