It was about time TiE held a healthcare-focused event celebrating the achievements of startups in that industry. This was it
TiE hosted a mega workshop on Healthcare-Revolutionizing Healthcare Delivery in Pakistan at Royal Palm on Friday November 25, 2016 at 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
The aim of the workshop was to bring together healthcare practitioners & professionals, pharmaceutical companies, medical institutes, academia, entrepreneurs, healthcare startup founders and students.
Medipak & Remington Pharma acted as the official sponsors of the event.
The workshop focused in new developments in both the global healthcare ecosystem and what presides in Pakistan. Furthermore, implication of these changes for the health sector in Pakistan were discussed. A panel consisting of six startups was held to explain the facilitation in bridging the identified gaps in the ecosystem. What are the emerging trends in Healthcare industry and what are the challenges faced by healthcare practitioners.
Fahad Tanveer was the panel moderator. He is an experienced management professional, and a passionate entrepreneur aiming to redefine healthcare and education service delivery in Pakistan. He is currently a co-founder of A* and also a member of Vitalis Healthcare, a consulting group that helps identify and capitalize on investment opportunities in Pakistan’s healthcare eco-system
He started his opening remarks by stating three inconsistencies in bringing healthcare technologies to their full potential:
- Demographics
- Lack of resources
- Patient perceptions
There were three keynote speakers for the event:
- Osman Khalid Waheed
- Furquan Kidwai
- Omar Chughtai
Mr Osman Khalid Waheed was the keynote speaker for the event. He is the President of Ferozsons Laboratories, one of the leading pharmaceutical manufacturers in Pakistan. He has brought an alliance with Boston Scientific Corporation, the world’s leading manufacturer of medical devices. He forged partnerships with German and Latin American Bio-technology companies to provide treatment for life threatening diseases including hepatitis, cancer and lung disease. He also opened fields of cardiology, gastroenterology, and dermatology and brought it as a leader in value added market segments.
Furquan Kidwai was the second speaker for the event, who is founder of Dawaai.pk and is an entrepreneur building an Amazon styled ecommerce venture in Pakistan. He launched his entrepreneurial journey in the eHealth space which has now expanded to a wider consumer market.
Dr Omar Chughtai was the third speaker for the evening. He is Director Operations at Chughtai lab. Dr Omar believes that the use of technology and automation can help to deliver quality and convenience to patients. He is keenly interested in the local startup ecosystem, particularly in the healthcare space, because these companies will lead the next big transformation in healthcare delivery in Pakistan.
The workshop also hosted a panel of startups doing ground breaking revolution in Healthcare delivery:
- Hyder Mumtaz – CEO – Augmentcare
- Nadir Mumtaz – CEO – Sehat
- Saba Gul Hassan – Founder & CEO of SGH
- Abid Zuberi – Co Founder My doctor.pk
- Hasaan Chattah – Country Head RingMD
- Ehsan Imam – CEO Marham
Mr. Humayun Mazhar, President TiE Lahore Chapter had more than just a few things to say. “I feel that there is humongous potential in Pakistani healthcare delivery models. Since we can not serve 200 million people through our traditional public sector hospitals not even with private hospitals due to the cost and logistics. We need to think about telemedicine, technology driven gadgets and Web based consultation. This will help government to penetrate in every nook and corner of Pakistan. He also shared the future roadmap for the Chapter.
Mr. Naveed Khalid Vice President for the chapter and executive director for Medipak added, “Through the ages, the quest for the preservation of life, treatment of ailments whether through preventative or curative methods and the extension of life span have been at the forefront of our existence.”
The respective startups present in the panel also made valuable introductions about their services:
AugmentCare
The CEO of AugmentCare, Hyder Mumtaz, explained AugmentCare as a “patient care portal” with five main facets.
- Provider Discovery (Consumer wanting to find doctors)
- Appointment Scheduling for Doctors
- EMR
- Telehealth (Video/Audio Conferencing with the Doctor)
- E-Prescriptions (link with Sehat)
He feels that the platform will be live by March, 2017. They are already conducting a lot of research and development in Pakistan. Other ideas in mind include wearables for patients, and a goal of 500+ doctors on board before launch.
The CEO of Sehat, Nadir Mumtaz, explains the journey of Sehat as a continuation of the proud Fazal Din legacy, as a quality medicine provider since 1948. It took 2 and a half years for research and development before launching in April, 2014, and since then, Sehat has become more than just an online pharmacy: it has expanded in to a home vaccination portal, has started offering nationwide delivery of all medication (including temperature sensitive medicines), corporate dispensary supplier, and First Aid Program (spearheaded by Bilal Mumtaz, Director of Marketing)
They have even managed to secure collaborations with
SGH is an acronym for the founder of SGH Nutrition, “Saba Gul Hassan”. She decided to go into this field after seeing the unethical practices being employed by many in the nutrition industry. Some of them claim to offer “tailor-made” meals based on incomplete data. Some of them offer supplements that claim to achieve weight loss goals but may have harmful side effects such as lowered immunity. Others just offer heresay as a remedy rather than scientific data.
That’s when she decided to offer consultation and produce her own home-made products to those who want to live a healthy lifestyle. “You are what you eat”, insists Saba Gul Hassan. She is already supplying her products on numerous websites, and plans to expand to another clinic very soon.
RingMD is a successful worldwide operation that has recently extended its arm to Pakistan. Iqbal Hassan Chatta spoke on the occasion of how difficult it is to manage patients who belong to far-flung areas in Pakistan. He gave an example or Ms Salma, an 18 year old who was an MBBS, who didn’t have time to pursue her further certification in becoming a practicing doctor. She decided to become a part of the RingMD to put her degree to good use without spending the exorbitant financial costs and time in setting up her own practice through conventional means.
RingMD is planning on signing up a lot of patients in the near future. Only 25% of their patients pay a fee of around 150-200 rupees per consultation, but their focus isn’t to monetize immediately but rather to spread awareness of their service.
After receiving a handsome investment of $100,000 by Virtual Force in February, 2016. MyDoctor.pk is slicker than your average doctor appointment website. They have also focused greatly on EMR’s and other solutions. However, other healthcare challenges encompass MyDoctor, such as the need for telemedicine facets in the website, and how certain doctors aren’t exactly tech-savvy. But don’t rule out this startup from Karachi yet – they are poised to be destined for greater things
The idea was simple: just a Facebook group where a healthcare community could be formed. Questions could be asked about which doctor was suitable for what kind of condition. And that’s where it took off. They gained 500 members in merely a month after launching their Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/marham.pk)
6 months passed, and 5,000 members joined (of which 2,000 comprised of doctors). It has grown to 35,000 members belonging to Lahore. Now a service has been launched with 10,000 on board doctors. Marham is a living example of how powerful a “community” can be.
