Healthcare startups have brought a big revolution in better patient experience. The healthcare segment is booming with innovations solving challenges of accessibility, affordability, and availability in India. Medicircle is conducting an exclusive healthcare series to create awareness amongst people about the services that healthcare startups are providing and to inspire the youth by presenting success stories of such startups so that they can carve their success roadmap. The aim is to also highlight the scope of improvements that are still there so that there are faster solutions. 

Rajneesh Dwivedi is the CEO and Co-Founder of SecondMedic which delivers one-stop remote healthcare solutions. He has developed a successful execution formula that applies to every business. His approach is very innovative and built around customer centricity & product iteration. SecondMedic offers a free online medical second opinion in India where you can ask or talk to a doctor online regarding your problem and get the best solution for it. People may obtain a second opinion to confirm their diagnosis with an independent clinical expert. The purpose behind this is that the diagnosis may be potentially life-changing, and it is best to validate it before it negatively impacts lives. During the pandemic, the organization expanded from a second opinion service to the one providing easy to access telemedicine, by hand-picked specialists from the Indian subcontinent. 

The story behind how it started

Rajneesh narrates, “Our effort has just not started overnight. I was heading the business of the world’s largest Fintech company in North America. In 2015 my mother got very sick in Mumbai. Diagnosis and treatment were not as accurate as they could have been with a world network of opinions by specialists. In the fight against cancer, I lost my mother. This was when the thought of SecondMedic germinated inside me. I wanted to build up something through which there is more accuracy of diagnosis and treatment of people so that the society can make well-informed decisions during life-changing ailments. Instead of just being successful at an individual level, I decided to work with a goal of succeeding in better healthcare for the society,” says Rajneesh.

How startups are contributing socially and economically

Rajneesh points out, “Startups provide employment and growth opportunities to people. They have brought changes in the traditional business models. For example, in the healthcare sector, patients used to go to service providers but now the healthcare startups have brought the best healthcare to the doorstep. The startup segment thrives on innovation, new ideas, and different ways of thinking and collaborations between people with diverse skill sets. Before the startup boom, it required lots of time for a product to mature from the ideation stage to the consumable stage but startups have expedited the process with fast R & D helping to turn innovative ideas into advantageous services and products to people in a shorter time frame. Innovations help the country economically and make the environment positively competitive for better services and products in all sectors. The startup community has a big role to play in the coming years and is already making very big positive changes in society. We are excited to be part of this journey where ultimately people will benefit,” says Rajneesh.

Post-Covid Changes in healthcare experience

Rajneesh lists down the ways in which COVID has changed the healthcare and wellness segment:

• “There are two groups of people– one at high risk, the other at lesser risk. There is a new normal situation when people are thinking about how to change one’s health status from high to low risk. So, a preventive healthcare model is in the process of gaining lots of prominences. People would be having more control of their and their family’s health. 
• There is already increased health consciousness. There is of course a hybrid model where people go to hospitals and also make use of remote healthcare services. However, they would not expose themselves more to risks and make use of innovative contactless facilities like contactless operations that are taking place these days.  
• There is a lot of focus around mental health, lifestyle changes, and better hygiene. 
• Complex health care was neglected in the initial phase of the pandemic. Now the focus is on that as well. 
• The social health network is getting popular. People are helping each other out in finding hospitals and medications. They are coming to other’s rescue and helping each other in being healthy.
• Remote and telehealthcare are gaining prominence.
• Healthcare at doorsteps is a popular concept now.
• New solutions are being developed to make healthcare simpler,” says Rajneesh.

What drives SecondMedic?

Rajneesh emphasizes, “We at SecondMedic always try to find how best we can help people to meet their needs. During the pandemic, we have been in a better place to help because of telehealth and second opinion services and also because we have a global network of specialists in places like the UK, US, Canada, and Australia. Since the 2nd wave came in those countries first, they had gained expertise earlier to deal with it. So, with their experience, we were not just helping the affected people in India in the second wave in a better way but were also holding knowledge-sharing sessions for people of the medical fraternity through webinars so that they can treat people better. 

We are leveraging the best protocols and best treatment and plugin solutions. We are bringing the best treatment standards available in the smallest of cities which are of global quality. Through an integrated and unique healthcare system, we are creating a record system of an individual’s health that he can access at any phase of life. We are trying to bring timely and unbiased healthcare to people by making wellness innovations so that people are enthusiastic about keeping health at their forefront. 

We have patented apps that are good assimilation of human and artificial intelligence enabling healthcare at fingertips. We are promoting health ambassadors and virtual health coaches. We are introducing risk assessment tools that are machine learning-based and which can provide healthcare facilities in rural areas at par with urban India. We have been also enabling AI and machine learning integrated risk assessment tools and clinical decision support tools. 

My team is a set of passionate people trying to fill in the gap of what is missing. My mother died as something was amiss and that is what drives me every single day - to bridge the gaps. I work with a passion to find solutions. We are at the forefront of developing evidence-based disease management solutions so that next time we are ready to face a pandemic situation more robustly and people are in the low-risk category instead of high risk. Our approach is very innovative and built around customer centricity & product iteration,” informs Rajneesh.

Message for beginners in the startup ecosystem

Rajneesh says, “If you are working on something but have not got successful, do not define that as a failure, rather define it as a learning experience. When there is a subsequent change of plan of actions and foundations, it’s not that you failed in your previous plan, rather you enriched yourself and learned in the process to do better,” says he.

(Edited by Amrita Priya)