BITS Pilani grads launch patient-physician mobile health app

Four graduates of BITS Pilani have come together to launch an on-demand healthcare platform, named VISIT, that connects patients with practitioners anytime, anywhere through smartphone or computer.
The motivation for building the telemedicine app came when they -- Anurag Prasad, Vaibhav Singh, Chetan Anand and Shashvat Tripathi -- felt for such a service on the BITS Pilani campus, which is located in a remote area and accessing quality healthcare was inconvenient.
VISIT has 100-plus top practitioners since the initial launch last month and 200 more of them are in the waiting list, Anurag Prasad told PTI here today.
The team has been incubated by technology company MapMyIndia, that has taken a minority stake in the early stage venture, which is now also in talks with Indian and global venture capitalists to raise a major Series A round of funding for scaling up operations.

VISIT started with on-demand therapy to break the social taboo linked with consulting a therapist, he said.
"Research says there are more than 40 million Indians who suffer from emotional problems (stress, anxiety, depression and relationship issues), but never visit a psychologist due to privacy concerns," Prasad noted.

The venture plans to launch general physicians, pediatricians and in-house lab tests on its platform in the next couple of months.
VISIT aims to put convenience back into the hands of patients and physicians with a platform, to avoid various frictions in the delivery of healthcare today like booking an OPD appointment, in-clinic waiting, and inability to get in-house doctor visits, he said.

"VISIT patient and physician mobile application enables modern house call: patients can start with free messaging to understand their symptoms and get answers to health concerns," Prasad explained.
"If they need a specialist consultation, they can push a button and request a 'visit' from their smartphone; physicians connect on video within 30 minutes and are able to diagnose and treat with nothing more than a smartphone/PC and their expertise," he said.