The first call was made by Alexander Graham Bell to call his assistant in 1879. Funnily enough, in the 21st century, Indians had no way to call for healthcare assistance. Healthcare in India was rooted in the institution and in metropolitan cities.
This situation needed to change and Shashank Saini was here to deliver it. He opened Medpho in October 2020 with the single goal of connecting patients to medical institutions via a single phone call. Medpho aimed to become one solution for all healthcare concerns. By joining Medpho, every customer had a lifetime access to unlimited teleconsultations with 600+ doctors anytime, anywhere. A total of 10,000+ teleconsultations have been done through the venture.
Medpho has also made it a mission to tackle management problems from the hospitals’ side. They offer hassle-free appointments and connectivity to patients to their partner hospitals. As Medpho takes care of the formalities it lets the hospital team project their focus on mainly providing healthcare to the patients. A total of 35 hospitals have taken up Medpho’s offer of providing a seamless flow between patients and hospitals.
They also joined hands with more than 100 supply partners to facilitate medicine delivery in different parts of India. Since its inception, they have fulfilled 8800+ medical orders. Medpho’s customer includes notable names like Sequoia Capital, Shoppers Stop, British High Commission, Crown Plaza Hotel and Resorts, Midland Credit Management India, and more.
Recently they raised $1 million in an angel round by Cygnus Medicare Group, Raghavendra Prasad (Founder of Project StepOne), Probal Ghoshal (Chairman of Ujala Cygnus), and Dr. Shuchin Bajaj (Founder & Director of Ujala Cygnus). They plan to expand their operations to tier-2 and tier-3 cities and urban communities. They also aim to grow their pharmacy venture by 150%.
The Economic Survey 2021 notes, that the biggest cause of death in India is the inability to access good healthcare. Can Medpho’s business model of connecting patients to hospitals bring the necessary change in India? Till now the platform has benefitted only 1 lakh people. Will they be able to acquire a larger population?