A farmer who is unable to quickly access the service of a veterinary doctor for his cattle or a person in Bengaluru can now opt for video consultation through an app.
In a bid to tackle the problem of shortage of veterinary doctors, a startup comprising two engineers and a veterinary doctor has launched an app “Dr. Pashu” which links farmers and pet owners anywhere in India with veterinary doctors for consultation through video call.
The startup was incubated by the NaaVic, Agri-business Incubation Centre at the National Institute Of Veterinary Epidemiology And Disease Informatics of Indian Council of Agricultural Sciences, with a financial grant of ₹10 lakh. The startup has displayed its services at Krishi Mela of the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bengaluru.
“The app has the facility to upload photos and details related to the health issue. Users can choose the language of their preference. Based on the requirements including category of animal, a veterinary doctor will be connected with the caller,” explains Kumar B.M., alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad, who has co-founded the app along with Nikhil Gupta, alumnus of MIT, and Suresh, a veterinary doctor.
The doctor will examine the issue and also prescribe medicine if need be, he notes. While the first call would be charged ₹29, the subsequent calls would be charged ₹99, he said.
“The service is confined to cow, buffalo, goat/sheep, pig, chicken, besides dog and cat among pets,” says Mr. Kumar. “Our focus was mainly on southern States when we launched the app in April this year. But we have been getting calls from Gujarat and Rajasthan too,” he says. So far, about 12,000 farmers and pet owners have enrolled themselves through the app. The startup has enlisted the services of over 20 doctors so far, while the process of verification of documents is going on with respect to others. In future, the founders of the app want to introduce online delivery of veterinary medicines too.
Presently, the consultation by doctors is available in eight languages – Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, and English.
