KOCHI: Ruchi Gupta had a medical emergency with her own family member where she couldn’t find space in any hospital to admit or diagnose her sister. Only when she gave the reference of a doctor she knew did they get an admission into a hospital. She realised that if it was this difficult for someone who was privileged to find medical care, one could only imagine what the underprivileged would have to go through.
Thus launched 3Hcare, an online portal where one can plan tests at a desired lab and location of your choice at your own convenience. The most important feature of 3HCare is the transparency in the price, discounts, available tests and confidential test report storage. “I know that accessibility is the need of the hour. To wait hours for diagnosis or tests in a medical situation is taxing. We tried to bridge that gap,” says Ruchi.
Based in New Delhi, 3HCare has its services spread across the country. “Although we don’t have an office, we have tie-ups and correspondances in 400 locations across India,” she confirms. The name of the portal too reflects its ideology - the 3 ‘H’s indicate, ‘Help, Health and Happiness’.
While Ruchi Gupta herself is a PhD scholar, an MBA and a CA, her team consists of marketing professionals, technically adept officials and even medical professionals. “Having people of various backgrounds on board helps us have perspective over what the consumer needs in various situations,” she says.
3HCare’s revenue model also benefits the users rather than commercial establishments. “We do not charge the users any subscription fee. Our revenue flows in through the hospitals and diagnostic centres who sign up with us for getting in touch with patients. This way we do not burden the patients who already have to pay a lot of money for medical attention.
We also provide the institutes with lowest cost or discounts on medical services for their benefit,” she adds. Today the portal has over 350 test centres to choose from with further verticals yet to be added.
While the idea for 3HCare was conceived three years ago, the portal finally launched 2016. 3HCare was self funded as Ruchi mentions. “We put in our own money initially. We pitched in `25 lakh for taking off. Eventually we went for the Series A funding to raise `2 crore,” shares Ruchi.
Two years since the launch, Ruchi has big plans for the company going forward. “Currently we are only providing information regarding diagnostics but we want to expand for more medical services as we go forward,” says Ruchi signing off.
In A Nutshell