“It's crucial to ensure AI's integration without compromising patients’ data and privacy” - Ramya Subramanian 

With the doctor-patient ratio of 1:1700, India is well below WHO’s prescribed doctor-patient ratio of 1:1000. The Indian government aims to achieve the WHO recommended ratio by 2024. The task is tedious but with the integration of human intelligence and artificial intelligence, it is possible to create a healthcare system that could release doctors’ burden of administrative tasks and supplement the efforts of doctors for precise treatment of patients. 

This is the vision with which Docty originated in Connecticut, US with a team of four co-founders. We got in touch with Ramya Subramanian, Co-founder & COO at Docty Inc. to understand the startup’s vision and solutions it promises to deliver for a fragmented healthcare system in India. 

“The databases generated out of the entire AI-integrated system hold the potential to shape the foundation of predictive healthcare and integrate all healthcare stakeholders under a single umbrella to eliminate fragmentation and urban-rural disparity from the country’s medical structure,” said Ramya. 

Docty’s journey and stepping into India

Docty introduced its platform in Colombia in 2020 and simultaneously started mapping out its penetration into India and then South Africa in July 2021. In India, we launched Docty before Covid in 2020, with a vision to enable people to access quality healthcare — anywhere, anytime. In the year 2020-21, the world's healthcare ecosystem was largely driven by the crises inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic. It constantly challenged the healthcare industry with rising healthcare costs and unsatisfied virtual consultations. The idea of launching Docty AI was conceived a year before covid. However, the way we all adjusted to covid made our conviction even stronger to accelerate the build and necessary investment from our own personal front and take Docty to the market as early as we can.  

We offer patient-centric services through a complete set of geo-located digital solutions and eliminate the highly prevalent care fragmentation. Docty addresses societal healthcare disparity by making healthcare solutions accessible to one and all, while also maintaining top-notch quality through its AI integrated digital services like '24/7 symptom checker.’ 

Solutions for a unified healthcare

Docty is here to solve three big problems of healthcare delivery i.e., fragmented care, limited resources, and long wait times. The important features that make Docty a unified healthcare platform are:  

• AI Integration: Artificial intelligence is used in the platform to generate insights and improve clinical diagnostics. These tools use facial recognition to analyse patients' emotions, assisting doctors in their diagnoses. 
• Access Anywhere, Anytime: Docty works with low data consumption and low bandwidth video consultations, owing to which quality health service can be provided to patients anywhere, anytime. 
• Doctor-patient Connect: Docty uses technological tools and high-fidelity algorithms to provide end-to-end solutions for patients, doctors, clinics, and pharmacies.  
• Docty Symptom Checker: It has a 94 per cent accuracy record, is a 24/7 engagement tool for users that helps patients make the most of their time with doctors by providing an accurate preliminary diagnosis. 

Through its comprehensive healthcare platform, Docty is furthering a roadmap to establish a preventive approach towards chronic conditions and risk management. The aim is to build the world's largest ecosystem integrating various healthcare stakeholders viz. providers, clinics, patients, pharmaceuticals, specialists, wearables etc through a one-stop platform. 

A platform to tackle mental health issues

We are one of the early adopters of IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) along with the AI component integrated into its platform. We have used AI very efficiently through an Emotion Index feature, to not just deal with but also address unidentified or unspoken mental health conditions of patients.  

The AI-enabled feature interprets patients’ emotions through facial recognition to assist doctors in their diagnosis and efforts to drive behaviours for improved outcomes. With the help of collected data, not only psychiatrists but other doctors can also address the underlying mental conditions of patients, and take necessary steps for further diagnosis. During the past 10 months, Docty has seen a 24% MoM (month-on-month) increment in the number of mental health consultations. The app even saw 60% more demand by corporates, for individual/group sessions on mental wellness than that seen before the pandemic. 

On India’s readiness to utilise the power of AI in healthcare

Change is the only constant in our lives that drives us forward. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India's healthcare system has been undergoing a transformation in recent years. While the country has always been at the forefront of technological advances and adoption, the actual challenge will be to reach all Indians and remove the care fragmentation that exists predominantly in the system. If we are able to use an integrated platform like Docty that goes beyond the consultation by providing continuous engagement, we would have cracked the code to democratise healthcare. 

While the global healthcare market stood at USD 45 Billion in 2019, it is expected to reach USD 175 Billion by 2026. Almost 45% of India's current population comprises frequent internet users who have opted for online treatments, and with a growing number of smartphone users; technological advancements related to mobile phones and the internet; favourable government initiatives, the ratio of telehealth users is expected to grow. 

Road ahead

Docty is a bootstrapped platform that has grown global in a very short span of time. We have a very clear and specific plan to expand in all regions within the country in the coming year, and our team is seeking seed rounds for this. We intend to create a platform that would foster cross-pollination in the best interest of promoting human wellness and access to resources without discrimination.