VHGlobal MindHealth

The problem we are looking to solve is the adverse effects of social isolation and mental health issues which arise as a result of disease outbreaks.

The solution we are proposing is the VHGlobal MindHealth borderless digital platform, whereby users will be given a lifetime self-owned healthcare database to be used as a daily mental health log. They can then engage with relevant mental health practitioners worldwide through virtual consultations. Unique to VHGlobal MindHealth, our users can share relevant information such as self-recorded videos and audio notes with selected practitioners in a secure environment. The ownership and confidentiality of the data will always remain intact. Practitioners can provide their input into the same database for the user's benefit.

Being cloud-based, it is very quick and cost-effective to scale across the globe. Our uberized, independent practitioner onboarding model also allows for a very wide pool of practitioners readily available on demand.

Currently, around 7% of the Malaysian population is in the elderly category of >65 years old. However, by the year 2045, Malaysia has been projected by the UN Population Division of the World Bank to become an aged nation with about 15% of its citizens (around 5.7 million people) being elderly. Out of that amount, as estimated by the Malaysian Department of Statistics, close to 10% will be living on their own either by choice or due to certain life circumstances. These 600,000 ageing individuals will be left to be self-sufficient and independent. That in itself can be challenging enough, let alone with the added problem brought about by a global pandemic such as Covid-19. One of the main adverse affects of the new norm of social distancing and home confinement is social isolation, which affects the elderly population to a much greater degree than the younger generation. To address this, remote access to relevant mental health professionals is crucial. It can allow early detection of mental health issues and enable proactive management.

This is where VHGlobal MindHealth comes into the picture. 

VHGlobal MindHealth is a proprietary global telehealth platform that empowers users by providing them a self-owned healthcare database. Through this database, they can journal their daily mental health issues with video, images, audio and notes. This database is further secured with blockchain technology to make the data tamper-proof. 

The VHGlobal MindHealth platform allows independent mental health practitioners around the world to onboard themselves as well. Once reviewed and approved by our team, they will be able to operate their virtual mental health consultation rooms with zero operational costs. This virtual consultation is executed via an integrated High-Definition patented video conferencing software with smart bandwidth optimisation.

Pre, during or post-consultation, the user has the unique ability to share his or her health database journal entries with the chosen practitioners. Even by doing so, they are not relinquishing ownership or control of the data, because the practitioner can only access it through the controlled and secure platform. They cannot download or re-share that information.

To complete the loop of mental healthcare, the practitioner is also able to input his or her professional practitioner entry into the user's database. This can include reports, notes, commentary, video, images and audio.

The target beneficiaries of our solution are people in the elderly age group whom are living independently, often the most impacted by a disease outbreak. Due to limited travel, social distancing and belonging to the high risk group, these individuals are often confined within their homes for an extended and sometimes unforeseeable amount of time. This will lead to prolonged social isolation and the adverse mental health issues that come with it such as depression, stress and anxiety. Physical visits to counsellors and psychologists are restricted during the pandemic and more often than not, they do not have a medium of getting the help they require.

To better understand the needs of elderly individuals, the VHGlobal MindHealth team has engaged with around 20 convalescent homes around the Penang region to identify their pain points. Their valuable feedback was used throughout the development of our platform.

VHGlobal MindHealth removes the barriers to care by providing a remote consultation environment for them to talk out their problems with accredited and qualified mental health professionals. We also address the issue of practitioner volume and availability by allowing an uberized and independent model of practitioner onboarding. This will ensure that regardless of when or where the service is required, there will always be a practitioner online ready to provide the consultation session.

Once the users have developed familiarity and rapport, they can also choose to consult the same practitioner on a recurring basis. This will allow maximum impact of mental healthcare being delivered and consumed because consultations can now occur in a familiar, comfortable and open manner.

To make this more effective, we have also provided a secure database for the user to populate and manage his mental health journal. This secure and database-linked virtual interaction between user and mental health practitioner cannot be achieved with current solutions like third-party video conferencing or social messaging apps.

The identified problem is a legitimate global concern whereby lack of access to mental healthcare for the target population of elderly individuals during the pandemic puts their health security at risk. The extreme no-physical-contact measures required during the pandemic also create a more vulnerable environment for these people because it isolates them even more than they already are. As a result, mental health issues like stress, depression and anxiety can develop if this social isolation is not addressed properly.

The VHGlobal MindHealth solution removes these barriers to care by providing a secure virtual environment for social companionship and counselling.

Through the Association for Residential Aged Care Operators of Malaysia, we have provided the VHGlobal MindHealth solution for convalescent homes around Malaysia. There are about 100 elderly users from an estimated 20 homes whom have registered and are using our platform.

The practitioner pool we have onboarded for this project consist of clinical psychologists, counsellors and medical doctors whom specialise in lifestyle medicine. Because they are independently onboarded as opposed to being salaried, we are able to provide a wider variety of practitioners covering multiple languages, multiple races and flexible time slots.

Following the virtual consultations and counselling sessions, we monitor and obtain feedback from the caretakers as well as the practitioners. The overwhelming response was that the impact has been very positive in creating happier and more engaged elderly residents. Many of the facility managers have also gone ahead and pre-purchased virtual consultation slots for their residents.

VHGlobal MindHealth will revolutionise the way mental health is being delivered and consumed on a global scale. It can break the taboo and improve access to mental healthcare because counselling sessions can occur from the comfort, convenience and privacy of one's home. The healthcare database as a journaling tool will allow practitioners to have better understanding and insight into the patient's mental health issues, which could have otherwise remain undiscovered through normal conversational sessions.

For mental health practitioners, it is also a game-changer because they no longer have to worry about overhead and logistical costs to operate their practice. They can focus on the essence of their service which is providing care for the client.

Number of people that the VHGlobal MindHealth solution serves:

(a) Currently : Pilot Stage

Total Registered Patients/Users: 100

Total Registered Practitioners: 15

(b) In 1 years' time: Small-scale Commercialisation

Total Registered Patients/Users: 10,000

Total Registered Practitioners: 1,500

(c) In 5 years' time: Large-scale Commercialisation

Total Registered Patients/Users: 1,000,000

Total Healthcare Practitioners: 250,000

a) Indicator: User onboarding

Data: No of users registering on the VHGlobal MindHealth platform

b) Indicator: Practitioner onboarding

Data: No of practitioners registering and approved on the VHGlobal MindHealth platform

c) Indicator: User engagement

Data: Frequency per week/month of virtual consultations for each user

d) Indicator: Mental Health Journaling engagement

Data: Storage capacity utilised in the user's healthcare database

e) Indicator: Effectiveness of Virtual Consultation

Data: Anonymous surveys and questionnaires for users and practitioners

Full-time Staff: 7

Contract Staff: 5

The VHGlobal project started off as a means for its founders to enable self-ownership and on-demand access to their own personal medical records. What began as a social enterprise quickly gained traction and evolved into a full-fledged telehealth platform. The VHGlobal key management, co-founders and advisors each bring their own unique expertise and experience to the project. 

1) Prof Emeritus Dr Sureswaran Ramadass (Co-founder and Managing Director): 

Involved extensively in next-generation telecommunications and 5G technology from both academic and industry standpoint, he brings a wealth of expertise as a technology advisor. From his success of listing the only university spin-off company on the Malaysian Stock Exchange, his leadership is crucial in commercialising the platform.

2) Dr Muhammad Asyraf (Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer):

Having a medical doctor background and dealing with a plethora of patients including the elderly and those with mental health issues, he knows the full extent of patient journey mapping. His involvement in international community outreach initiatives and the financial markets provides him a unique 3-way perspective of the healthcare industry from a business, practitioner and patient viewpoint.

3) Collectively, our team of 6 co-founders and 3 advisors bring along with them proficiency and experience in the field of financial management and equity investments; strong relationships and network with industry players; and high-level expertise in the field of Healthcare Engineering and data analytics.

4) Our operational team consists of robust, multi-faceted and passionate individuals whom share the company's vision of making healthcare affordable and accessible for everyone.

At VHGlobal MindHealth, we practice meritocracy and value an individual based on their performance rather than their ethnicity, gender, age or religion.

From the top-down, members of our organisation come form different ethnicities, nationalities, gender and faiths.

Because we are aiming at the global market, we want to include as many international partners as possible so that they may become our representative in their respective localities.

Throughout our recruitment process, we strive to build a team that is diverse and multi-faceted. We strongly believe in celebrating our differences as strengths and value-add for the organisation.

In our team, there are currently members from Malaysia, India, Sudan, Iran, Libya, United States of America, Bangladesh and New Zealand.

We are applying to Solve because of the following reasons:

1) Widen our network of like-minded partners and collaborators, especially for customer acquisition efforts on the international stage.

2) Widen our brand recognition and outreach for potential practitioners worldwide to join this virtual healthcare revolution. We need to increase our practitioner volume significantly and ensure that it is diverse enough (multi-language, multi-ethnicity, multi-timezone) to support a global customer pool.

3) Making this much-needed solution of virtual healthcare coverage available to all corners of the world, especially for people who would otherwise not have access to this vital service.

4) Engaging interested investors for equity fundraising.

We believe that customer acquisition costs will be the differentiator for us. Hence, we would like to strengthen that aspect of our business so that we are able to grow at an optimal pace and always maintain the balance of supply and demand between our user pool and our practitioner pool.

Also, we understand that each society or culture has their own way of looking at and addressing mental health issues. What can be taboo to some parts of the world can be an open discussion in other parts. Hence, local partners and collaborators would be extremely helpful in providing the best approach for their specific localities.

1) Health Ministries and organisations: 

To provide the framework for implementation of virtual mental healthcare in their country and ultimately to engage VHGlobal as the service provider.

2) Mental Health Practitioner Associations and Registries: 

To partner VHGlobal and widen our practitioner pool.

3) Old Folks' and Retirees' Associations: 

To benefit by becoming our clientele.

4) NGOs with specific focus on healthcare: 

To identify the under-served and underprivileged members of society to provide subsidised or sponsored services via the VHGlobal Telehealth ecosystem.