DoctorNow

On-demand access to healthcare advice using simple already-existing social-messaging technology, securely & sustainably across Africa.

Access to healthcare across Africa is difficult...difficult, mainly because of distance (hours to days away from quality healthcare), cost (unaffordable even if available) & stigma ( sociocultural barriers especially affecting millennials). This leading to poor health outcomes from potentially preventable and/or treatable illnesses.

DoctorNow seeks to solve this ubiquitous problem by digitally expanding access to healthcare, by leveraging upon the adoption of social-messaging channels which are secure (end-to-end encrypted) such as WhatsApp (the most-used messaging platform across Africa with over 170 million users) to provide easy, affordable, acceptable, confidential & structured access to verified medical doctors via chat, voice or video for quality medical advice on-demand for disease prevention, diagnoses & treatment across Africa.

The potential for sustainability is undoubted, leveraging upon a simple already-existing messaging technology, and adoption would be phenomenal as this would introduce a “healthcare that communicates like they normally do” using these social-messaging platforms.

To access a DoctorNow, users simply

1. Go to www.DoctorNow.ng, 

2. Choose their convenient time and after filling in a short form (their bio & complaints) they get auto-directed to WhatsApp.

3. On WhatsApp they get an automated link to pay easily (via a debit card, direct bank payment or via USSD short code) ; and  

4. They get connected right away to chat or speak with a certified & verified medical doctor! 

Our service has also started to serve as an ‘inroad’ to the healthcare system in that users, where necessary, are efficiently ‘sorted’ and referred to the appropriate specialists thus making the referral system more efficient via our coordination of care via this digital ‘inroad’.

We believe healthcare can be simplified...and are truly excited at what we are creating in making this dream a reality!

DoctorNow adds a simple ‘layer’ of scheduling over existing messaging technology to create easy but structured access to on-demand healthcare over secure social-messaging platforms...thus putting these platforms to ‘new’ uses.

Technology is fundamental to DoctorNow as the entire process is anchored on simply yet highly efficient technology. The inroad is via a webpage liked to an online booking app which autoredirects to the social messaging platform to begin the consult with the doctor.

1. To have had 20,000 consults by the end of the year. 

2. To have set up “rural-pods”- which are simply solar powered Kiosks where underserved/indigent rural populations can have on-demand access to healthcare online

3. We are aimed at increasing number of specialists on our team- currently we have generalists, ophthalmology & OB/GYN. We plan to onboard a wider range of specialties.

4. We plan to expand across West Africa (currently we operate mainly within Nigeria)

5. We also intend to deepen our partnerships with health insurers, employees and other corporates hence also growing our B2B model.

In the next 5 years, we hope to be Africa’s largest on-demand online healthcare network, with pan-African reach and impact..impact in terms of expanded accessibility and improved health outcomes .

Currently customers are mainly brought in via ‘word-of-mouth marketing’ from satisfied clients. 

We however plan on actively engaging social media marketing channels as well as traditional media marketing (radio- which has the widest reach in this region) whilst maintaining the current organic growth/marketing via “word-of-mouth” publicity.

We currently have 133 active users, so far in this pilot phase. 

in 12 months - 20,000

In 3 years- 1,000,000

Our core team is diverse and well-rounded with years of industry experience in medicine, health safety & quality, management, business, technology & design represented, bringing such wealth of expertise and execution power behind DoctorNow.

The core team also has a deep & rich network of advisors, industry & policy leaders within and without core contributing sectors in the West African sub-region hence having further giving stability, credibility & critical access to needed human & material resources.

Our revenue model is both customer-facing (B2C) and business-facing (B2B), with users paying per consult whilst corporates pay a subscription to provide access to their employees and/or enrolees.

Currently we are profitable on unit economics as we have ensured minimal overheads and lean processes  

We are applying to SOLVE because we see such a strong alignment of our corporate values and those of SOLVE, especially as regards expanding access to community healthcare using technology.

We expect propulsion of our plane of operations from the wealth of technical and industry expertise SOLVE is positioned to give, as well as the immense potential of mentorship and additional funding from SOLVE’s network.

Amongst the key barriers to our success is the challenge of revenue collection from unbanked citizens.

Another potential barrier (to scale) is the current ‘restriction’ on some of the social messaging platforms which allows for only one user per designated ‘phone number’ which makes scaling require our use of multiple phone numbers to increase the number of doctor-service-points. 

Solve definitely would help by connecting us with superior tech and operational experts who can help mitigate these challenges; along side connections to these social messaging companies for a potential partnership for health.