MedoPlus App: Driving healthcare to doorsteps of Uttar Pradesh villagers

MedoPlus, a healthcare technology startup, is bringing timely and appropriate healthcare to the villages of Uttar Pradesh.

With the use of MedoPlus app, villagers from districts of Lucknow, Raebareli, Barabanki, Hardoi and Sitapur are now able to book appointments with qualified healthcare providers from their homes.

The business model of MedoPlus was conceptualised following lengthy research in 500-plus villages in seven states. Dr Prakash Bakshi and Neeraj Chandra, the co-founders and entrepreneurs, were immensely moved by the state of healthcare in villages.

Lack of awareness of health symptoms, poor availability of qualified healthcare, inability to afford healthcare expense and challenges in reaching the right healthcare at the right time led to delayed addressal of health issues and increased the criticality of ailment. In October 2020, MedoPlus was incorporated by Prakash, Neeraj and another friend Shekhar Yerramilli. It started from three villages initially before expanding to 500 gram panchayats, and catering to 2.7 lakh villagers.

“The app allows villagers to book appointments with qualified doctors, diagnostic labs, and hospitals in the villages. Patients can consult specialists both in-person and digitally. This has helped villagers in reducing the waiting time at clinics from hours to less than 30 minutes. Moreover, all medical records are maintained digitally which are mapped to a unique patient ID for any future reference and better decision-making by healthcare providers. The in-built algorithm guides less aware patients to the appropriate specialist. All the financial transactions are done digitally through the platform,” says Dr Prakash Bakshi, Co-Founder and CEO.

“Our mission is to enrich the healthcare experience and outcome for at least one crore healthcare seekers from rural India annually by December 2026,” says Bakshi.

The experience of the founders from their prior roles, and from their research indicated that villagers prefer to consult doctors face-to-face when seeking healthcare services.

“500 million people in rural India lack the digital skills needed to navigate healthcare apps. Our primary approach is an ‘Assisted model’ where we build a network of ‘trusted’ local village entrepreneurs (MedoMITR) to guide villagers in their healthcare journey,” says Neeraj Chandra, Co-Founder and COO.

“These MedoMITR undergo a 360-hour onboarding programme that has been approved by the Healthcare Sector Skills Council (HSSC). For digitally savvy users (population of 300 million) who can navigate the app themselves, we have a “Self-User” model. We have partnered with healthcare providers to cater to all levels of care – primary, secondary and tertiary. On the MedoPlus app, users can use either of these models to book appointments with healthcare providers, and navigate their end-to-end healthcare journey,” he says further.

Since its launch in 2022, MedoPlus has registered 2.7 lakh villagers.

He further added, “We have brought on board more than 500 healthcare providers, transformed over 350 villagers into micro-entrepreneurs as MedoMITR, with 70% of them being women. We have successfully completed 90,000 patient incidents and conducted over 1,200 health camps. Sixty per cent of our direct beneficiaries are either poor or very poor and 46% of our direct beneficiaries are rural women.”

Shekhar Yerramilli, Co-Founder and Director of the company says that around 150-200 patient appointments are booked on a daily basis through our App.

“Through our platform, patients seeking healthcare under the Ayushman Bharat scheme can also book hospitalisation appointments,” he says.

MedoPlus was recently recognised by the SwissRe Foundation for their impactful work in healthcare. Out of the 350 companies globally, MedoPlus was the only Asian company among the top three at the competition held in Zurich. The company was also a finalist at the ‘TiE Lumis’ awards during ‘TiEcon Delhi 2024’ held earlier this month at the national capital.

As per a press release, TiE Delhi-NCR was a roaring success, demonstrating the power of resilience and innovation in the startup ecosystem with the theme ‘The New Bharat: Confident, Bold, Inclusion’.

The conference witnessed the celebration of entrepreneurial spirit, exclusive business networking opportunities, and the recognition of outstanding achievements through various awards.