It started as a small technology initiative to help Janus Initiatives, non-profit started by Dr. Pankaj Kumar Srivastava, to help conduct health campaigns at schools. DocsNear.me initially provided technically help to conduct health camps at rural government schools in Uttar Pradesh, India and collect data digitally. Based on the data collected from health campaigns, we used to analyze the data with certain health benchmarks and provide digital health cards with analysis to parents of the children, and schools via web and android mobile app.
Later, we expanded the service to include telehealth consultations for rural patients.
DocsNear.me for schools helped NGOs conduct health camps at schools. We started with a mission to help kids in rural India grow healthy irrespective of where they go to school ( public or private). It was started by doctors, healthcare researchers and technologists.
India's first prime minister who is popularly known to children as Chacha Nehru, once quoted - "Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow." Yet, today, one of the big problems we in India face is child development and malnutrition. An article published by worldbank.org says that, nearly half of Indian children are underweight, 45% are too short for their age, 20% are too thin for their height (malnourished), 75% anemic and 57% have Vitamin A deficiency. Link to Source
DocsNear.me in partnership with Janus Initiatives Charitable Society wanted to change that by organizing health camps for school children both at public and private schools. These health camps which we conducted helped to detect any preventable diseases, malnutrition, bad hygiene, and any other health problems children are facing.
The health parameters we collected in school health camps are designed and set by very experienced doctors which will help us monitor child's growth. Then, the data is analyzed along with standards and then presented to parents and schools. With our early pilot health camps, we have already seen clear impact by detecting malnutrion, vision problems, etc among school children.
Later, we expanded our mission to help rural patients get expert healthcare opinions irrespective of their location and accessibility. Goal was to provide specialist second opinions from specialists and super specialists from all around India virtually to rural patients.
Health camp and Hygiene kit distrubution at school
DocsNear.me and Janus Initiatives health camp along with local government officials and leaders distributing Hygiene kit to school kids.
DocsNear.me at periphery Clinic in Gonda, UP
Face mask preparation and distribution during Covid-2020
Doctor conducting health examination for kid
Janus Initiatives, and DocsNear.me team with Rotary Club, Gonda members.
Janus Initiatives hygiene kit
Our journey began in 2018 with a focus on supporting rural government schools by organizing health camps and promoting child health initiatives. By 2019, we expanded our efforts to include telehealth and virtual consultations, offering second opinions through DocsNear.me.
In the early stages, the initial backend API, frontend application, mobile app for school camp data collection and digital health cards were developed during weekends and nights by a dedicated core team members. As the application grew in scope, we expanded our development team in India. The entire project has been self-funded through personal savings and contributions from friends and family, without any external funding.
Watch the video to see what we’ve built!
Team Members: Refer to the slide deck below.
Healthcare is an inherently complex field that involves multiple stakeholders working in harmony. Developing a platform that effectively serves both doctors and patients presents unique challenges, requiring significant investment in time, resources, and expertise.
Generating sustainable revenue while focusing on rural patient care proved to be a considerable hurdle, given the economic constraints of the target demographic. Additionally, in India, onboarding and training doctors to adopt technology based mobile applications for consultations demanded extensive effort and dedication to ensure seamless integration and usability.
Go through slide deck to understand our journey, things we have done, our team, and road map. Now, because of lack of traction and funds to support our venture we have closed the application. We have documented this in the hope that it'll help somebody who may be thinking to startup in the same area and also may be in future we may get an opportunity to start again this venture in some other fashion to help people.