Now, doctors can network on Plexusmd.com

IIM-A graduate comes up with job-oriented social networking platform for medical professionals to take on LinkedIn

Sensing a need gap that conventional job-oriented social networking sites like LinkedIn pose for professionals like doctors, an Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) graduate has come up with a networking platform dedicated for medical professionals, called plexusmd.com. The venture is also looking at raising money for future expansion.

Rohan Desai, founder of plexusmd.com and a doctor himself, says, "Conventional sites like LinkedIn are insufficient for doctors, as many specialities are not listed as a part of the profile. It does not fully cater to the unique needs of the medical fraternity, and as a result, the penetration of LinkedIn among doctors is quite low." He claimed that of the roughly one million doctors in the country, hardly about 10,000 would have LinkedIn profiles, and the issue is not that of access to the internet.

Plexusmd.com, which started around mid-November last year has managed to enroll about 2,300 doctors on the platform and expects the number to touch 3,500 in a few weeks time. Within a span of five years, as Desai claims, the platform aims to have around 50 per cent of all registered doctors in India on the platform.

Desai's idea is to create a mix of a job portal combined with the advantages of social networking. For that, he is tying up with institutions that would list their job postings on the site, and has around ten hospital and clinics groups as well as around 50 independent hospitals already working with Plexusmd.com.

Desai is also planning to develop a newsfeed around content related to latest advancements in the medical science, as well as details of continuing medical education (CME) workshops happening in the city, so that doctors and other medical professionals could benefit from the content.

As of now, the platform is not chargeable, and there are no plans to monetise it for the first two years, and Desai also plans to keep it ad-free for the time being to avoid clutter. Plexusmd.com has come up with an android application for mobiles and is working on developing an iOS application for iPhone.

The venture is also looking at raising money from investors and is in talks with several investors in this regard. Desai did not wish to comment about the quantum of money he plans to raise as of now.