India’s healthcare market is a fast growing one and is assumed to grow three-fold by 2020. Obviously, the health tech startups are tapping that opportunity.Startups focussed on health raised $346 million in 2017.
A Deloitte report claims that the industry is expected to grow at 23 percent compounded annual growth rate to $280 billion from $100 billion in late 2017. On the other hand, the government’s expenditure on health care still remains a mere 1.3 percent of India’s total GDP.
As a result, the health tech startups are making their presence felt, covering everything from neuroscience to paediatric care and from information management to grassroots health education in schools.
The World Health Day just went by and listed below are some of the health tech startups that have made their mark
Murgency
It provides access to emergency medical services through the help of a mobile application. It has a large network of 1000 ambulances and 1500 medical responders.
Doctalk
This free mobile app allows patients to save medical records online. Users would be interacting with doctors online through the app and share their medical records directly.
Address Health
This company provides paediatric healthcare services to school children through clinics. It also conducts health education programmes across schools.
Live Health
This app provides health insights and maintains the record of the patients. These records get automatically updated on the app after every visit to the doctor.
Niramai
This startup aims to revolutionise the breast cancer screenings through the use of Artificial Intelligence. It is a cheaper and radiation-free alternative.
PharmEasy
PharmEasy not only helps patients and their caretakers connect with the local medicine shops but also offers free sample collection service for diagnostic tests by authorised phlebotomists. The startup ensures that medicines are delivered within six hours of prescription validation by a licensed pharmacist.
The app also has an in-built dosage reminder for users. In case a patient does not have a prescription, the PharmEasy team connects with him/ her and provides a valid prescription. The firm has tied up with nearly 700 doctors across India.
Practo
Practo is a SaaS-based platform for doctors, which has, over the past 10 years, evolved into a one-stop destination for appointments, consultations, health records, insurance, and ordering medicines online.
The Bengaluru-based health-tech company is today active in 38 Indian cities, and in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Brazil. It has a large team of 1500 people. With over 1,00,000 doctors supporting the massive scale of operations, Practo currently caters to 25 million patients every year.
Forus Health
This startup was founded in 2010 and since then it had been using technology to fight the skewed ophthalmologist-to-patient ratio in India. It uses its portable innovative product 3nethra, to screen the common eye problems which can lead to blindness is just a few minutes affair. With over 1,300 installations across 26 countries, the Bengaluru-based startup has impacted over two million lives in a positive way.
Their latest product aims at detecting Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a disease that leads to blindness among premature babies, due to excess of oxygen or the effect of drugs used to save them.
Other significant health tech startups include names of AdvanCells, Mitra Biotech, Lybrate. They are unique in their own manner. While one of them is trying to make stem cell therapy affordable, another provides instant support from doctors via phone, yet another strives to make cancer care personalised and drugs.
We hope that these startups are able to bridge the gap between the promise of the government and the services meted out to the common people.
Also Read: How to keep track of your health on World Health Day
