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Why does Mobile Medics charge the poor villagers Rs 50. Why not provide care for free?
We are not a charity based organization and we don’t believe free healthcare models are sustainable. Also free has a very negative connotation as being of poor quality or sub-par. Our fees are also very competitive and reasonable and include basic medicines. We do recognize that some patients may be too poor to pay the fees in which case we are exploring alternate models of payments.
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What kinds of video are you showing on this site. Do they violate any patient privacy?
We will be showing educational videos that teach people about primary healthcare and the prevention of disease. We will absolutely respect patient privacy and all videos will be appropriately edited to protect patient confidentiality. In addition, due consent will be taken by the patients before filming them on video.
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How do you think you can make this a sustainable business model?
By keeping operations efficient, using technology for better data monitoring and by bringing additional revenues through bundling the sale of auxillary health care products.
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Can people afford to pay for this service?
Yes. The growing prosperity of Indian villagers is well documented, and researched by institutions. Given the average spending of the middle-income villagers, the price appears to be on the conservative end. We intend to test different pricing points in different villages to gauge the price elasticity of demand during the pilot program.
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What about competition from government doctor? Are you not treading on his territory?
Though there are a few primary health centres that are currently run by the government which are located in rural areas, they are not sufficient to cater to the current demand. Therefore, we do not believe that we would be perceived as posing a threat to government doctors, even though we will be trading on private practitioner territory. These people we are seeing don’t have choices, and the cost of getting transportation to go to see a doctor can be crippling, because many of these people work 7 days a week, and going to a doctor is an all-day affair. Transportation is an additional cost.
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How many patients can a doctor see each day?
Each government doctor typically examines between 150 and 200 patients per day in government hospitals. This is due to the significant pressures on doctors since there are many patients and few doctors available. The quality of care is significantly lower. Diseases are also widespread. This is very different from our experience in the US, where the average doctor in New York City would see up to 40 patients per day. Our plan intends for using four medical personnel to see a similar number of patients. Two doctors and two nurses could see approximately 175 to 200 patients per day since many patients need only minimal care to treat their common ailments. This translates to approximately 7 minutes per patient, which is a conservative figure as we believe that most patients will be diagnosed in approximately 3 to 4 minutes. It would also add enormously to the quality of care that the villagers currently get. Additionally, we intend to have the nurses and the driver pre-screen patients to ensure that the time spent with the doctor will be minimized. This will be done by treating the patient with respect and dignity at all times, similar to how an ER triage station is managed.
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How will you attract and retain doctors?
Junior doctors will be recruited straight from medical school. In the case of unusually strong demand due to unforeseen events (epidemics, monsoon season, etc.), students from the local hospital or temporary doctors will be added to the team. For now, we are using a rotation system, using doctors who are in Pilani. Each doctor works one day a week. This allows us the flexibility of getting support from local doctors, who are not working at full capacity and have the time to visit these patients.
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Are you planning on hiring female doctors?
We plan to employ female nurses and doctors whenever possible. We are currently using female nurses in a few instances.
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How will supplies reach these doctors?
The vans return to the laboratory every night in order to be restocked with fresh supplies.
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