As many as 49% of Indians use the internet or digital media to read the information on health and use it as the first call for help before visiting a doctor. This trend of relying on the internet has been more active since the break of the coronavirus. 

But this trend of relying on the internet is particularly harmful when one realises that around 67% of the fake news is related to health. Consuming and implementing such news can turn harmful and at times even fatal. In one particular instance, a school teacher in Raichur took one such pseudo-scientific advice and lost his life. He was facing breathing problems and used the false advice of lemon juice inhalation.

Seeing the reliance of millennials on the internet and the dangers it can bring, Dr Prothom Chakravorty and Dr Neeta Modi decided to change this. They started the House of Doctors in Mumbai in 2021. The startup assists and helps patients navigate their surgeries by gaining expert opinions from consultation to diagnosis. 

They have a unique feature of assigning every patient a care buddy. The care buddy acts like a family member and assists the patient from getting the doctor’s appointment to waiting outside the delivery room with fruits and juices. The startup check’s the patient’s background and makes sure they don’t get any treatment or surgery that is not necessarily required.  

The Mumbai-based startup focuses on speciality areas, like proctology, varicose veins, hernia, cosmetic, orthopaedic, circumcision, cataract, kidney stones and more. Along with this, they offer award-winning surgeons, state of the art infrastructure, and free cab pick up and drop services at a No cost EMI.

The venture is bootstrapped but is in talks with VCs for funding. In their first 3 months of operation, they have onboarded 30+ hospitals in Mumbai. They have so far partnered with hospitals like Surana Hospitals, SRV Hospitals, Kapadia Hospitals, Parakh Hospital, and Fortune Plus Hospital, among many others. Apart from Mumbai they have ventured into Indore. 

According to Invest India, the Indian digital healthcare market is expected to reach Rs 485 billion by 2024. Will startups like House of Doctors make the digital healthcare space more trustworthy and reliable?