BILEKAHALLI: With the HINI scare spreading, Medyog, a healthcare aggregator started by three cousins, has found over 2,000 users looking for vaccinations.
“We’ve tied up with Religare, and are looking at tie-ups with Manipal, Apollo and Fortis,” says co-founder and CEO Pranat Bhadani. “Those who have registered can book appointments next week.”
It was when the chemical engineering graduate faced problems scheduling diagnostic tests after a surgery that he realised what hassles patients face. This prompted him to start Medyog with Shantanu Jain and Nitin Jain, who take care of the technical and marketing aspects of the business respectively.
Users of Medyog can book, cancel or reschedule doctor appointments and tests through a website. Launched in December last year, the site (www.medyog.com) also has an Android app. Currently, users can choose from 14 diagnostic centres across the city, though the back-end team is aiming at getting 40 centres and hospitals on board.
Bhandani estimates that the three-month-old aggregator is being viewed by about 100 people a day.
Users can view test reports online through a secure server. “We’re particular about confidentiality, and are trying to find a way to get the diagnostic centres to release them directly to the clients,” he says.
“The app and the service we provide are free,” he explains. Ask him about the investment, and he says that it is negligible. “It doesn’t take much to set up the website and app, but scaling up does,” he told City Express.
So the founders are working on improving the product over the next few weeks before they approach potential investors. “Then, we’ll also be able to answer their questions better,” he says. Over the next few months, Medyog also plans to expand to a couple of other cities as well.
When he first hit upon the idea, Bhadani wanted to focus on changing the healthcare sector from being almost entirely doctor-driven to a more doctor-patient-driven one. “I was surprised to find that people in the healthcare sector are interested in marketing though legal means,” he says. So they are happy to cut out the middlemen and provide discounts.
And it’s through these discounts that team Medyog plans to sustain the business. “Right now, any discount they are providing us is being passed on to our users. But when they increase the margins, we plan to pass on the same amount and keep the rest,” he says.