BioAsia 2017 held at HICC, Novotel, Hyderabad earlier this week not only benefited academicians, pharmacists and universities across the country, they also gave a fillip to fresh startup ideas who look at the biomedical/ pharma industry from a different tangent. In a space featuring CEOs of varied age-groups from 24 to 60, the event’s major takeway was their exposure to top entrepreneurs on one platform across the country besides select talk sessions. A few start ups were evaluated based on their business pitches so there was a palpable competitive vibe, albeit a healthy one that one simply couldn’t ignore. The scale of the event, for a change, was matched by its quality too. We pick a few interesting ones as a case in point.
Zerotime app
An app that minimises your waiting time during an appointment with the doctor. The app keeps track of where you stand among the list of patients at any given time. This way, a patient can plan his/her journey to the hospital such that ‘zero waiting time’ can indeed be a reality. Stemming from a personal experience of the founder, Sandeep, the platform will act as messenger between the hospital and the patient, where it can integrate with the token system that most hospitals follow. Can this be used for banks too, we wonder
Laima app
An app designed for the medical needs of a woman, Laima (founded by Samidha Garud and Bhupendra Chopra) follows a subscription-based system. Here a doctor answers a query of the user within a stipulated time, i.e. either in 6, 12 or 24 hours based on the package the subscriber chooses. Users can also choose from a list of doctors. The app comes with enough security features (has a passcode), has a facility where one can upload all medical documents and prescriptions, receive tips on a regular basis, monitor progress during pregnancy and other issues too.
Writtenmedicine.com
A UK-based startup that’s housed in Bangalore, the website-based technology headed by Tucker MCGaw comes with instructions behind medicines in regional languages for those who don’t know English. They are also on an awareness campaign to make prescriptions /instructions behind medicines obligatory for medical stores when they hand over it to a customer (like avoiding abruptly cutting a strip where a customer can’t identify anything, even the name of the medicine, printed at the back). Some of the prescriptions they currently translate include Arabic, Hindi, French and work is on to extend the service in Telugu and Kannada as well.
Kidnurture
An app-and-website driven technology founded by Anurag Sharma, Kidnurture is a platform for parents to manage or detect a child with special needs. The app opens with a basic questionnaire for parents, with Yes / No options. The results will direct them to a paediatrician, and an automated software for detailed assessment where parents can track the progress during therapy and consider suggestions for special/inclusive schools too. The app maintains a complete digital health profile of the child and also helps organisations facilitate any campaign/programme related to the domain.
Medikabazaar
Medikabazaar is digital platform based in Mumbai that deals with medical supplies including equipment, furniture, surgical instruments and more. While one chain of the website targets businesses, the other serves home healthcare needs. The idea eliminates the need for middlemen and helps a common man access generic medicines at cheaper rates, where they needn’t be restricted to specific brands. The Mumbai-based firm that has won big at multiple startup events has tie-ups with leading hospitals and brands
