DocsApp, a WhatsApp for Healthcare

By Anusha Ashwin

“Google math karo, DocsApp karo!” remarks Satish Kannan, Founder of Bengaluru-based DocsApp, to satisfy one’s quest in finding a doctor 24/7. DocsApp is a mobile platform where people in India can consult doctors within 30 minutes in various specializations through chat or call from the location of their convenience.

Right from the word go, Satish Kannan and co-Founder Enbasekar D wanted to create a healthcare app that is chat-centric and one that can be mimicked to the usage of WhatsApp or SMS. “One can’t be just a listing service for doctors. But I along with my co-founder, wanted to create a product that is a one-stop place for online primary healthcare and specialist care, catering to many different verticals of the healthcare industry. In short, DocsApp is for users who are busy ignoring their health due to the hassle of visiting doctors against a fixed appointment at their clinics,” says Satish Kannan, giving a brief outline about the product DocsApp.

Kannan felt that best products are built out of experiencing and understanding a domain deeply and over time. Thus, founding DocsApp was not by chance for Kannan and Enbasekar. The duo being classmates at IIT Madras had synced in thoughts of founding a health-tech company since college days.

“Enbasekar and I were classmates at IIT Madras, and have worked on several projects together in IIT and have won national product competitions in medical technology together. Over the course of executing those projects, we spent long hours waiting for doctors outside their clinics or government hospitals in Pune, Mumbai and other major cities. The doctors were evidently overworked on one side and on the other side patients went through a time-testing wait at clinics even for brief, simple consultations. Perceiving this difficulty on both ends, we planned to develop a mobile-based solution. Using our skills learnt at IIT Madras, we decided to conceptualize a product in solving issues related to health. Between 2013 and 2015, we worked at the healthcare industry to gain in-depth knowledge before starting and creating DocsApp,” explained Kannan on the concept behind DocsApp.

Kannan started his career with Philips Healthcare’s R&D division and Enbasekar had expertise in the research and development of automated diagnosis algorithms to assist doctors. They began working on the concept in the year 2013 and figured that many of the health issues existing in the present day can be diagnosed and treated online. They saw that WhatsApp was very popular among doctors and patients and leveraged the opportunity to mimic WhatsApp in healthcare — hence the name DocsApp.

DocsApp is most beneficial to busy users (like office goers, executives, businessmen etc..), users who wish to consult Doctors privately (like sexology, psychiatry, pregnancy, relationships issues), users who wish to take second opinion from specialists (like cardiology, orthopedics, oncology etc.), users from tier II cities and towns to consult specialized doctors from major cities without having to travel.

Achieving significant numbers

DocsApp is probably one of those health-tech companies that has achieved significant growth in terms of numbers since inception in 2015. DocsApp has on-boarded over 1,100 carefully selected doctors, who are available for consultations in general medicine, gynecology, dermatology, infertility, sexology, psychiatry, pediatrics, etc. With a pan-India presence, DocsApp has reached out to more than 3,00,000 patients in the country.

Available on Android and iOS play stores, the app has clocked close to 100,000 downloads. DocsApp also delivers 360-degree assistance by providing prescription medicine delivery and has also collaborated with 3,000 leading pan-Indian chain of pathology labs including Thyrocare, SRL diagnostics and Protea Health Services for biological sample collection at home.

Kannan attributes these numbers to DocsApp’s USP, i.e., an app that is designed to give the best experience to patients with wholesome information and absolute privacy. Kannan indicates that patients can not only chat with the doctor but also share pictures and reports of the ailment with the doctors privately.

One other USP that’s worth mentioning is the payment system that Kannan and his team have conceived. “We have innovated on payment channels to make it easy for users to pay from one’s mobile balance,” says Kannan.

“A significant part of consultation is also the human element of medicine, and DocsApp strives to achieve this by focusing on say the style of conversation during the consultation. We constantly learn and improve on this non-medical part of delivery of healthcare as well,” explains Kannan.

Kannan says that DocsApp is also preferred for its high-level security. The app abides the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) to ensure high-level data security. Another option DocsApp provides to its users is the choice to delete conversations in matters under sexology, psychiatry, infertility, menstrual issues etc. consultations.

Bullish on growth

Kannan has observed a 30% month-on-month growth in number of consultations in 2016. The company has a pan-India reach with significant users in rural areas. To grow on numbers, DocsApp reaches to friends and family through users who have been benefitted by DocsApp. In addition, Kannan and his marketing team run promotions to spread awareness about various health concerns. One of their famous campaigns were during Women's week, where DocsApp encouraged women to consult gynecologists, psychologists and pediatricians for Rs 8 only.

DocsApp began with a team of 6 members. Today, the company has recruited close to 40 members and has further plans on expansion of human resources.

Attracting high profile investors

DocsApp was incubated at IIT Madras with Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala as one of their key advisors. Cofounder Enbasker is also part of the Healthcare Technology Innovation Center at IIT-M. Hence, it was natural for Kannan and Enbasker to garner support from IIT-M alumni in raising funds and mentorship.

In 2016, DocsApp raised a seed investment of $1.2 million from Facebook’s angel investors Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, and Japanese venture capital firm Rebright Partners. IIT-M Incubation Center and other top angel investors like Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, Anupam Mittal of Shaadi.com, Rajesh Sawhney of GSF Accelerator, and Srikanth Sundararajan of Helion are also financially backing the company.

Setting the right path for the future

DocsApp envisions taking the number to 1 million customers in 2017 and 100 million in five years through expansion in South East Asian countries. “We are aiming to make world-class, high-quality healthcare accessible to the masses in our country and overseas. We’ll leverage best technology solutions that can assist doctors in providing impeccable consultation, disease diagnosis and complete healthcare. We’re open for partnerships and investments that can help us in this journey,” Kannan concludes.