DakterBari-(A Bengali word meaning doctor's home) startups-cum-social business

DakterBari (A Bengali word that means “Doctor Home”) is a flagship charity-cum-social business under Dialme Limited, aimed at building a healthful Bangladesh and improving the health ecosystem by using mobile technology.

DakterBari is a virtual healthcare platform that provides various channels to contact doctors such as posting as a health query or booking a slot for real time face-to-face consultation over HD video and phone (it will be a private/secure call back). One can use our service to consult with highly qualified physicians at the comfort of one’s home. Besides, we will provide information about hospitals, medical institutes, blood donors, clinics, diagnostic centers, etc. & eventually will deliver medical products at the doorstep. DakterBari aims to provide digital healthcare solutions for all through its various windows of services.

Our Story

Our journey started in April 2020. At that point, the COVID pandemic had spread all over the world and there were many heartbreaking stories of the loss of families and friends. The pandemic exposed not only the economic inequalities but also the poor access to and quality of healthcare.

1. On December 31, 2019, China informed the World Health Organization (WHO) of patients who had contracted pneumonia for unknown reasons.
2. On January 12, 2020, the World Health Organization confirmed that a coronavirus was causing a bunch of respiratory illnesses in the people of Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.
3. On January 30, the outbreak was declared a public health threat (PHEIC). Then, on March 11, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of Kovid-19 a pandemic.
4. The first undiagnosed Covid-19 or coronavirus in China's Wuhan Province once spread around the world, part of an ongoing global epidemic. After its first origin from China; The first known case of Kovid-19 was reported in Bangladesh on March 8, and on March 17, 2020, the first official announcement of coronavirus death was made in Bangladesh. In the case of Kovid-19, Bangladesh is facing a big test. Since it is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
5. A large number of Bangladeshis lived in Italy, one of the countries affected by Kovid-19, and the fact that millions of Rohingya refugees are being housed in densely populated camps is a difficult challenge for Bangladesh, experts say.
6. Following the guidelines formulated by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has formulated a number of guidelines (20) based on the views of pathologists and health experts in the context of the country.
7. Later, the leave was extended in stages and then extended till May 30. Although not blocked across the country like in other countries, free movement is restricted throughout the country without much urgency.
8. The Ministry of Public Administration has issued a notification announcing to take legal action if people go out from 6 pm to 8 am. A total of 52 districts of the country were completely or partially blocked till March 18 in this lockdown which started on March 26.
9. Lockdown and its outbreak and rapid spread in Bangladesh have caused a major catastrophe in the medical field of the country. Fear of being infected creates a distance between doctors, patients, healthcare workers.
10. Many doctors close their chambers for good reason! Expresses inability to see any patient directly. In this way, many medical hopefuls are in danger. Many were not getting medical services in the hospital.
11. During the Covid-19 epidemic in Bangladesh, various media outlets reported on various irregularities, mismanagement, lack of coordination, and corruption in the health sector.
12. No hospital can deprive a patient suffering from Covid-19 or any other disease from medical treatment. If a patient dies due to someone's negligence or if a hospital does not provide medical care to a patient, it will be a criminal offense. The High Court also directed to bring the responsible person under the law if the reluctance to provide medical services to a critically ill patient in a public or private hospital and the death of that patient is considered as negligent death.
13. There is a demand for the formation of a high-powered inquiry committee to look into the mismanagement and irregularities of Bangladesh's hospitals. It also demanded implementation of the recommendations made by the committee on what hospitals need.
14. Considering the issue, we launched a Facebook group called DakterBari ( A Bengali word of doctors home) in an attempt to establish communication between physicians and medical aspirants using the telephone, mobile phone, social media.
15. Several physicians volunteered to welcome our efforts. By engaging in these activities, we try our best to provide regular advice to the patients seeking their services through regular phone calls and social media. 

Voluntary committee formed for mobile / telemedicine services in Covid-19 situation.

With the help of social media and mobile technology, we have created hundreds of public and private initiatives and efforts in the event of covid-19 or Corona epidemic, as well as a platform called DaktarBari (A Bengali word of doctor's home). The idea for DakterBari was born. Although we believe mobile health counseling was inadequate at the time. We have also worked to dispel rumors and gossip. Many people simply could not get treatment because they lived too far away from the nearest facilities which may not have the right equipment. This was unacceptable to us. 

For good reason, we have already started making mobile apps on the advice of everyone involved with our social enterprise. Using mobile technology, we would like to provide up-to-date information on the advice of specialist doctors, services, health information, health care centers, medicines, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, etc. to the common people of the country, especially in remote hilly and coastal areas.

We firmly believe that local leaders already have the ideas to improve the healthcare situation because they are confronted with it every day. However, countless of these incredible ideas never come to life because entrepreneurs might not know how to materialize them or do not have access to resources like capital and guidance. This is where the DakterBari comes in. 

Challenges:

1. Bangladesh faces challenges from many domestic factors. The deficit in governance, the reach of corruption, the inadequacy of various physical and social infrastructures, income inequality, and so on, are revealed as binding constraints to the sustainability of development in Bangladesh
2. The unemployment rate in Bangladesh was at approximately 4.15 percent.
3. The unemployment rate among the university graduates in Bangladesh is 38.6 percent,
4. Bangladesh ranks 133rd out of 195 countries worldwide in providing access to quality healthcare, ahead of regional neighbors India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Afghanistan.
5. Bangladesh’s national poverty rate rose to 29.5% as of June 2020 due to Covid-19, which cost tens of millions of people their jobs and brought them down below the poverty line

Opportunities :

1. Bangladesh reached the lower middle-income country status in 2015. In 2018, Bangladesh fulfilled all three eligibility criteria for graduation from the UN's Least Developed Countries (LDC) list for the first time and is on track for graduation in 2024.
2. 6.5% annual growth in GDP
3. Graduate from Least Developed Countries Status by 2024
4. Top 25 largest economies by 2030
5. Impact-driven and vibrant startups scene

Mission :

To fulfill all the health-related felt needs of the communities in the most appropriate and possible ways.

Vision:

To recognize as the first choice for health information, education, and social business network within Bangladesh and throughout the South Asia region.

Values:

To Networking and building partnership

To be a leader through taking ownership and communicating

To take pride in the enterprise and the contribution it makes to the country

To work with a team, celebrating success and constantly striving for improvement

Target Customer

We would like to reach our customers/target people/ beneficiaries through Digital Marketing, appointing Brand Ambassadors, expanding network partners, maintaining liaison with CBOs, CSOs, NGOs, Doctors Association, Business Associations, and Professional Associations, initiating advertisements of our services products through electronic and print media, launching multiple campaign activities like roadshow, organizing free eye-camps and free Friday clinics, etc.

Revenue Model

Our revenue model is service-based. We will provide on-demand doctor consultancy for now. Besides, we will introduce other channels like direct sales to remote pharmacies & others. We’ve already partnered up with some medical institutions through which we will get the commission.

We will explore initial investment funds from external sources to meeting our capital and revenue expenditure relating to the huge technological set-up and back-up supports and to expedite user-friendly operational processes of the DakterBari platform. We are expecting to meet part of revenue expenditure from our income derived from multiple operations, such as commission from doctor's appointment for using the platform, a commission from telemedicine service, membership subscription/ contribution fees, business network partnership subscription fees, sales commission from an e-commerce platform, and commission from delivery service, exploring fund from CSR & ISR (Individual Social Responsibility) sources, etc.

Dakterbari Mobile App Solutions

DakterBari platform is working to contribute to and address the following issues:

* Facilitating patient-friendly online appointment schedule, confirming, implementing an appointment reminder system, and re-scheduling appointments; maintaining physician’s electronic health record through using appropriate mobile apps.

* Facilitating Telemedicine Service for patients who need care right now to connect with reliable and affordable care regardless of their schedule or transportation options. Telemedicine provides clinical support, overcomes geographical barriers, involves the uses of ICT, e-health patient monitoring, consultation via video conferencing, the transmission of image medical reports, and many more.

* Supporting User-friendly Prescription Management by preserving electronic prescriptions instead of sometimes illegible handwriting prescriptions. Our mobile apps will facilitate medication management, routes of drug administration, and rights of medicines management, etc.

* Supporting Medicine Management to improving patient use and administration of all medications; improving the percentage of patients meeting their health care goals; reducing side-effects and duplication as well as drug interactions.

* Maintaining Patient Health Record (PHR) is vital to communicate with other health care personnel, to reduce risk management exposure, to create a permanent record for the patient’s future care, and to ensure appropriate reimbursement.

* Providing Information on Price Sensitive Issue: We want to support the patients and health-care-seekers to be able to compare the price of medicine, doctor’s fee, sundry charges of diagnostic centers, etc.

* Providing Health Information (Content/video marketing/health forum etc.) through propagating issues on health and wellness, disasters, fitness and exercise, food and nutrition, health system, personal health issues, safety issues, sexual and reproductive health issues (SRHR), social / family issues, etc. for raising awareness to the target-audience and groups.

* Expediting Network discount shopping (Main business strategy under Dialme Limited) system for products and service-receivers through formulating MOUs with multiple products and service providers, such as Pharmacies, Diagnostic-centers, Clinics, Hospitals, pharmacies, Shops, Malls, Restaurants, Hotels, Tourist spots, etc.

* Streamlining Vendor Management / E-commerce platform: We are working to develop appropriate apps and streamline the process of vendor management administering e-commerce through online retailing and electronic markets.

* Developing Supply chain management Delivery Apps: We have a plan to develop delivery apps for supply chain management in the long-run.

Stakeholders, such as patients, healthcare-seekers, physicians, medical students, pharmacists, health-workers, diagnostic centers, clinics, bloggers, content-writers, distant-living marginalized people, vendors, etc. will be our beneficiaries.

Why Dakterbari Unique? 

Telemedicine service is a value-added service taking advantage of the developments in telecommunication and growing internet facilities. It can play a significant role in providing medical facilities in remote areas where modern health facilities are very limited. This service paradigm is especially critical for developing countries like Bangladesh where access to medical facilities and necessary equipment is limited in rural areas. Telemedicine can be a cheaper and easier way to disseminate medical facilities among a large group of people in remote areas by using limited resources. The total population in Bangladesh is over 150 million. Among them, 77% of people live in rural areas. A substantial improvement in the health care sector in Bangladesh has reduced child mortality rate and maternal death, and increased immunization coverage and life expectancy of citizens. However, due to having a huge disparity in health care distribution between rural and urban areas, a large portion of people living in rural areas are deprived of these modern health care facilities. They are required to travel long distances to access health care services which are costly and time-consuming. There are 663 Government hospitals in District head-quarters and Thana (sub-town) areas. The total number of beds available in both public and private hospitals and clinics is 51,648. Nevertheless, the ratio of the hospital bed to the citizen is around 1:2571 with a doctor to citizen ratio of 1:43660 in Bangladesh. However, most doctors in Bangladesh are located in urban areas due to poor infrastructure in rural health care centers and villages. Due to ill-equipment, insufficient numbers of doctors and health care professionals, and poor healthcare infrastructure, most rural people are required to travel long distances to access modern healthcare facilities mostly located in urban areas. To overcome this disparity in healthcare access, Telemedicine can play a critical role. It has great potential to improve both the quality and the access to health care service delivery with reduced costs even in the scarcity of resources. Telemedicine could potentially reduce waiting times for patients and the cost of the health system’s operations; it can improve interdepartmental and inter-hospital communication and collaboration; it can provide an opportunity for sharing best practices among physicians within Bangladesh and international hospitals, and can enhance better resource allocation.

There is the provision of information about medicine for physicians and medical students, prescription management (legible doctors’ prescriptions to patients & pharmacies), maintaining patients’ case history, blogs development for raising mass-awareness about healthy lifestyle, and FAQs.

What Impact on social development

If our initiative becomes successful in the long-run, it will complement and impact on achieving SDGs, especially in the following areas:

SDG 1: No poverty: Combating poverty through our Agent Policy boosting up individuals earning capacity for livelihood (Target-1.4)

SDG 2: Improved Nutrition: Address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older persons through providing health-related information, write-ups, etc. (Target-2.2)

SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages: Be healthy is the key to safeguard our life value chains. Prevention of malnutrition and its negative health implications for people. Linking access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all (Target-3.8).

SDG 8: Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all: Promoting informal employment opportunity through our Agent Policy by boosting up individuals earning capacity for livelihood (Target-8.3).

 SDG 9: Build Digital Infrastructure: DakterBari establishing an open-source digital health technology to help & assist people.

SDG 10: Reducing Inequality: Protection of women and girls through access to health information and raising awareness of inequalities.

SDG 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable: Improving urban waste management infrastructure (safety, hygiene, reliability) (Target 11.6 & 11.7)

SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production: Promoting a healthy lifestyle, mindful food-habit, etc in Bangladesh as well as in the global South. DakterBari is changing the production chain, among others by providing food for people. Promoting that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature (Target 12.8).

SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and strong institutions: DakterBari engages for a sound regulatory framework that enables safe and sustainable food & nutrition information, awareness by using our digital content strategy and avoiding conflicts, strengthening the flow of information and network.

SDG 17: Building Partnerships for achieving the goals: Encouraging and promoting partnerships among the target stakeholders for achieving the SDGs.

Coming soon