Re-imagining the doctor’s clinic
It’s 2022. And I’ve turned 33 this year.
A lot of things change in your thirties. You’re valuing your time more, you’re planning things ahead, even your weekends. You start hating weekend hangovers, you’re meditating. You’re eating the right things and health becomes a priority.
2 minutes, please.
Like most people, I have quite a few experiences visiting the doctor’s clinic.
The long waiting, sometimes for hours, with cold & indifferent attendants scurrying the lobby, the dirty floors. When your turn comes, you hear them shout your name. If not already, you remove your shoes outside, to enter into a neat room, with a big table in front of you seating the doctor, and a small chair for the patient.
After the long wait, you experience a fast-paced consultation with the doctor, which barely lasts a few (<5) minutes.
According to research, the length of an average consultation in India is around 2 minutes.
These clinic visits were mostly unpleasant. But it did help; got you relief from those headaches, and seasonal infections.Somehow, we’ve always accepted them the way they are, without questioning much.
Until last year.
The experiences have largely been the same. We have teleconsultations now, that’s very convenient.
But I still struggle to find a doctor I can trust. I can’t talk to a random doctor online. Like others, I usually have to put aside at least half a day for a doctor’s consult.
I still can’t read the handwriting on the prescription, and I still have to carry a lot of files every time I visit. I’m still greeted with unpleasant waiting lines. And I still manage to get those 2 minutes of doctors’ time.
If you think about it, technology has evolved everything around us; from shopping to commuting to learning, even dating! You get groceries in 10 minutes, instant refunds & your complaints answered on Twitter. It has made life easier.
Except, it has not reached the doctor’s clinic the same way!
The one place which directly impacts your life.
Initially, I thought it could be a tier-3 city issue, which is where I’ve lived most of my life. Until I moved to Mumbai and now in 2022, I’m in Bengaluru, and still, I don’t think it has evolved in the same way.
2021, it becomes evident
Covid-19 was sifting away. The year highlighted a lot of things around health for me. I’ve been married to Abhimanyu for five years. Read about our experience with his health in detail here.
And then, we start noticing the missing links everywhere.
My mother, 64 years old, was still recovering from COVID-19.
A few weeks later she notices swelling in her feet. We reached out to the doctor who prescribed a few medicines to her. Now, being a pharmacist, I have the habit of checking the composition of meds & their manufacturers.
On the way to the pharmacy, I noticed that one of the meds in the prescription was probably banned in the United States. I thought maybe my pharmacy knowledge was not updated, so I called another doctor (a friend) to confirm.
To my utter shock, he seconds, that the drug was banned outside of India. He asks me why this medicine was prescribed, and when I told him about my mother’s symptoms, he immediately stopped me from buying the medicine, as she had borderline high creatinine post-COVID-19 & this drug could seriously impact her kidneys.
I was ‘lucky’ I had a doctor friend who “remembered” my mother’s medical history.
And I was ‘lucky’ he had the time that day. This incident rattled me.
I had so many questions.
Did the doctor miss out on taking her detailed medical history?
Was the quick consultation the problem? Did the doctor miss out on seeing her elevated creatinine levels from the file?
Is it really fair to rely on a doctor’s memory for better treatment? What would’ve happened if we didn’t change the meds?
Do we really need to be lucky to get good healthcare?
Imagining the clinic 2.0
We started getting deeper into the problem and realized how these hurried 2-minute consults mostly work for your current symptoms, but often resulted in missed or incomplete care for your long-term health.
The tech is working great to improve accessibility — by providing teleconsultations, enabling blood tests at home - making it convenient, and also making it affordable.
But, how do we empower doctors to diagnose & treat better — thereby improving the quality of care?
Imagine a world where doctors use data-driven, real-time insights over their own memory to make decisions. Where tech assists expert doctors to deliver high-quality care every single time, so that good advice is never missed.
This, is why we started Zarity so that no one needs to be ‘lucky’ to get good quality care.
At zarity, together with doctors, researchers & experts, we’re building tools & processes that prioritize care & help physicians deliver better outcomes to their patients.
Needless to cite, we have a lot to learn and a lot to build, and it won’t be easy. But we’re excited for what lies ahead.
