The doctor-patient ratio of 1:1655 in India as against the WHO norm of 1:1000 clearly shows the deficit of MBBS. 

The shortage of skilled professionals is a major contributor to the ailing healthcare system in India. The country has a ratio of 0.7 doctors and 1.5 nurses per 1,000 people compared to the World Health Organization (WHO) average of 2.5 doctors and nurses per 1,000 people. Due to the current pandemic, India is short of 10 lakh doctors and 20 lakhs nurses to tackle the soaring healthcare burden and requires at least 1.5 lakhs nurses and 50,000 doctors skilled in ICU care over the next year. 

Dr Bhaskar Rajakumar is a CEO of Mediknit. Mediknit is the largest online platform offering Continuing Medical Education (CME) and Upskilling programs for healthcare professionals. 

Product Offering and Services of Mediknit

Dr. Bhaskar Rajakumar says, “When we started the journey, we never imagined the pandemic, the entire journey started long before we actually started the Mediknit journey. Learning is a continuous journey for a doctor. There are many scientific changes happening in the field. 

CME (Continuing Medical Education) is a broad term for doctors and learning. There are 2 parts of CME (Continuing Medical Education)- 

1. The mandate given by the Medical Council Association is to have exposure in your area of practice on a continuous basis so that you are on par with existing norms of practice. 

2. Learn while on hands-on practice

90% of CME (Continuing Medical Education) happens in the 2nd part. We have a structure with mentors. So, we started training online for medical education. The basics of medicine cannot be taught online. Basics have to be very strong. Improvement of skill can be done with CME (Continuing Medical Education) which is available to lead practitioners. So, we decided to come up with a platform where there are masters and seekers across the globe for expertise. The platform was put together in 2016 and we went live in 2017. We started with multiple associations, especially the Indian Association. Medical associations are a group of practitioners as a single group of a particular specialty. We started working with specialty and then diverse fields. Started with dermatology, then surgical, and then moved on to cardiology. We are covered in 30- 35 associations in 9 different countries with 12+ major super specialties.”

USP of Mediknit

Dr. Bhaskar Rajakumar states, “Accessibility with respect to technology is no more a problem. Thanks to the digital world for this transformation. It is possible to reach the smallest town in India. The smallest town in India is doing UPI transactions which suggested good Internet bandwidth and digital connectivity. We can run an educational program with minimum bandwidth which is available everywhere. 

With the Covid pandemic, The specialist did not have the resources and time to seek every single expertise. This is essential for practice enhancements. Learning a small skill can be difficult if you have to spend 17 hours flying to the US. This causes me to miss a whole week of practice. So, online CME (Continuing Medical Education) helps in such cases.”

Challenges faced by Mediknit 

Dr. Bhaskar Rajakumar informs, ”The doctors welcomed this online CME (Continuing Medical Education) which was saving their time. The basics of suturing can be done online which covers 50% of the process. This entitles cutting short a long 3-4 day program to ½ a day program learning the core of the program in person. Rest you can get prepared for hands-on training.”

Clientele network of Mediknit

Dr. Bhaskar Rajakumar informs,” Till now, there are 1.5 lakhs + doctors who have taken up CME on platforms and more than 50% of doctors are repeat users. All the doctors are coming back and taking up new courses and continuing learning on the platform. This challenges us to come up with new programs and keep them engaged.”

Funding for Mediknit

Dr. Bhaskar Rajakumar says, “We are bootstrapped. We only have the first round of Angel Funding from friends and family. We have not raised funds yet. We are looking at raising funds. We thought about the first round of funds prior to covid. It was held with regard to Indian markets. We have a decent amount of revenue to run the organization without the funding. We wanted to see how the market grows and turns around after covid. Now, it has been a decent sustainable growth with respect to numbers of users and revenue. We are looking at raising funds in 2 months' time where we can start pitching.”

Revenues in FY22- FY23 for Mediknit

Dr. Bhaskar Rajakumar tells, “We were at around 1.5-1.75 cr in the year of covid and we are looking at increasing this 3 -4 times. The user base is doubled as compared to last year. We have not added a new course. Since last year, was into the free webinars due to covid. So, we have not added many but with the existing course, we have doubled the database and are looking at 3 times revenue this year.”

Goals and future expansion plans Mediknit

Dr. Bhaskar Rajakumar states, “Our expansion plans are into areas of specialization rather than looking at geography. Knowledge is essentially always similar everywhere. We have touched upon all the major 12 specialties. We are focusing on subspecialties and super specialties. We are doing a lot of work in the surgical field. We want to go deeper into neurosurgery and microcardiac surgery. “

Expert Advice 

Dr. Bhaskar Rajakumar advises,” With start-ups, we have learned about confidence while getting in for startup. You may get into the moment where confidence may go out or get hampered. None of us know how the outside world is. It is all about hope and confidence. The second important thing is never hesitating to stop something which is leading to a major loss both with respect to a financial and mental condition. You need to be stable mentally and confident. It is important to financially manage your startup. Most startup failures and depression among startup entrepreneurs are because they don't let things go off. Never hold on to anything beyond it has to be held on.”