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Doctor7

A mobile app to connect medical doctors and patients alike, bringing healthcare to more people.

Define three specific objectives that you would like to achieve with your proposal.

  • Improve Honduras healthcares availabilty.
  • Help unemployed medical doctors to get jobs.
  • Increase availabilty for specialized doctors to Honduran rural areas.

What problems (particularly in value chain competitiveness and global disruption) are your community’s stakeholders facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic?

  • Because of the pandemic Healthcare systems worlwide faced a disminution up to 70% in patients' being this really problematic in countries like Honduras where Healthcare fails to update to newer solutions such as telemedicine.
  • Honduras is seeing an unprecedented time of medical unemployment with over 10k medical doctors currently unemployed

What minimum viable solution(s) are you proposing to address the challenge(s) in your community?

We are building a mobile app to help patients get healthcare and for medical doctors to keep working during this time of pandemic.

Share your story (your narrative)

Because of COVID-19 people are having a tough time getting healthcare and I as a medical doctor see that my colleagues are losing their jobs because of this, that's why we created Doctor7 a mobile app that unites patients and medical doctors in a same place. There has been 70% reduction of patient afflux worldwide and our latin american countries are being severely affected by this because healthcare fails to update to new technologies such as telemedicine. With Doctor7 we are able to give a viable alternative to classic healthcare without having any risks of contagions as hospitals and clinics have high contagions risk. Doctor7 allows people from every rural area in Honduras to access Healthcare at lower prices.

Please provide any additional relevant information that you would like to share.

We were winners of Techstars 2020 Startup Weekend COVID-19 Honduras as "Médico en Casa" and Honduras Digital Challenge 2020 in COVID-19 National category. 

https://www.techstars.com/newsroom/unite-to-fight-covid-19-startup-weekend-meet-the-winners-from-54-countries

https://hondurasdigitalchallenge.com/2020/08/04/el-honduras-digital-challenge-concluye-su-cuarta-edicion-brindando-nuevas-oportunidades-de-crecimiento-e-innovacion-en-el-pais/

Tagged users
edited on Aug 11, 2020 by Eduardo Salgado
Public (22)
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Olajide Ogunmoroti Aug 12, 2020

Hello Eduardo,
This is a good concept. But my question is how will you educate and bring this concept to what everyone both literate and ilitrate can easily use .

Eduardo Salgado Aug 14, 2020

Hello Olaijide,

Thanks for the feedback! We plan to onboard patients through short videos and infographics when possible. We are still formulating how to bring this concept to rural areas where internet is barely available.

EUNICE KAJALA Aug 13, 2020

Hi Eduardo,

It is a good initiative, but, add some statistics on how the Honduran healthcare delivery is insufficient to meet the Honduran population needs. And also, how is the rate of unemployment of the medical doctors?

Eduardo Salgado Aug 14, 2020

Hi Eunice,

Thanks! I will add some statistic to Honduran population. In 2019 unemployment rate of medical doctors in Honduras was near 40%.

James Kiruri Aug 13, 2020

Hi Eduardo, great idea, is this a for profit or social enterprise? How is the rate of unemployment of the medical doctors?

Eduardo Salgado Aug 14, 2020

Hi James!

Well that's a hard question haha. Our idea started as aid for medical doctors to keep working but as any enterprise we must generate profits to keep expanding. Unemployment rate in Honduras was near 40% in 2019.

Muyunda Kaonga Aug 14, 2020

Hi Eduardo,

Awesome submission and I am happy that you're very passionate about health care for people in rural areas. I just wanted to highlight something. First I would want you to narrow down your target market and clearly state your customer, people in rural areas have issues to do with internet connectivity and technology how best do you intend to address that. Then some statistics in your submission would be great to actually give us a clear picture. Then regarding doctors losing jobs that to me is not very practical as this period require as many doctors as possible. Then also state your revenue model on how you will sustain the app. Thank you and all the best.

Eduardo Salgado Aug 14, 2020

Hi Muyunda,

Thanks for the feedback! Sure will update my submission by adding some statistics and my accessible market. The situation regarding doctors losing their jobs is really problematic in my country (Honduras) where we are seeing budget cuts that are directly affecting our Healthcare system even through the pandemic.

Calister Simba Aug 14, 2020

Hi Eduardo, Great idea, my concern for any health applications or systems is data protection/privacy, how are you planning to address this? Most people are forgetting that digital space come with the cost of protecting information so they don't think about cyber security issues such as information theft and data leakage. Please remember you will carrying confidential data in your platform.

Users tagged:

Eduardo Salgado Aug 14, 2020

Hi Callister, data protection is very important to us specially because the data in our platform is about healthcare. We already have built-in protection but we are implementing HIPAA certification to have a bigger layer of protection to our user data.

Calister Simba Aug 18, 2020

That's great, It is a first project I have seen that understood the role of privacy in any application.

Crazy question : Why number 7?

Eduardo Salgado Aug 18, 2020

The number 7 has several reasons, during ancient history it was considered a magical number because of the stars, today we know it as the first happy prime number and in many religions it is still considered a good omen. Also when we started we considered our service to be 24/7 but the idea was then replaced to its current state.

DJ Koeman Aug 14, 2020

Ola Eduardo, como estas compadre?! Todo bien espero. I like your initiative. You mentioned telemedicine. How data intensive is this? Do you need to have a home internet/WiFi connection or does it run on a mobile network? Does it consume a lot of data (cost to the patient)? What are the charges for the patient? Is there medical cover from the government?
Have a look at our idea and see if you like it

Eduardo Salgado Aug 14, 2020

Hola! We are running stress tests to adapt it to mobile networks and so it doesn't consume much data to the patient. In our tests the API we are using for videocalls has proven to work in EDGE Network without any major issues. The charges for the patient are currently being negotiated with the medical doctors that will attend in our platform but we are really looking forward with working with governments to make it more accesible. Thanks for the feedback!

DJ Koeman Aug 24, 2020

thanks for your response, well understood! Good to hear you are using low bandwidth solutions! Maybe talk to MNOs (is there Claro in Ecuador?) to see if they are willing to partner (and possibly zero-rate data traffic from your app)? In the meantime, have a look at our solution and vote for it if you like it: https://cocreate.itu.int/post/3496670

Sunday Bawa Aug 14, 2020

Hi, can you please let's us know the Ownership and usage gaps of mobile phones to smartphones in rural areas? By mobile I mean phones that can atleast browse the internet and do Facebook but don't have capacity for Playstore

Okey Esse Aug 16, 2020

Hello, you mentioned: Increase availabilty for specialized doctors to Honduran rural areas. How do you plan to solve the problem of high speed internet connectivity in rural areas, high internet costs for health diagnoses against orthodox traditional medication and internet literacy. Thanks

Eduardo Salgado Aug 16, 2020

Hi! Well the API we use for videocalls does not require high bandwidth so that people can connect with lower internet connections that exists in Honduran rural areas. Doctors are being comprehensive and they decided that telemedicine consultation has a lower price compared to traditional medicine.

Aron Shoker Aug 16, 2020

I was wondering if this app will consume a large portion of data/Wifi for both patients and medical?

Thanks.

Angela Matlapeng Aug 16, 2020

Hi Eduardo. It is wonderful to use technology into making the health system efficient by connecting Dr - patient. My quick question is how does the app validate doctors and ensure they are 1. Qualified 2. Not impostors? If i am looking to recruit/hire a doctor, would i be able to do so via this platform? And then of cause just to echo again on on patient confidentiality and data protection. Its important to have measures in place to avoid law suits. Lastly, in terms of data storage and expiration, how long/far back will you keep medical history and 1. how much storage are you looking at, 2. how efficiently does the app fetch what won't be readily available in its cache/local DB?

Eduardo Salgado Aug 16, 2020

Hello Angela! Well those are really good questions
1.- We require medical doctors to show proof about their degree and check on our national medical authority (Colegio Medico de Honduras) to avoid impostors. Yes of course patient confidentiality is very important and that's why we try to emphasize in end-to-end encryption for data management and HIPAA certification to our DB
2.- Physical medical history lasts up to 10 years we aim to match those parameters. We adress to it by utilizing an expandable cloud DB. As it will be mostly text it would be of fast access to the medical doctor attending the patient.

Tafadzwa Chikwereti Aug 16, 2020

Hello Eduardo,
My advice Start small and build momentum, Being a social entrepreneur can be very difficult, you are constantly in a field dominated by changing dynamics, you will often face business challenges, and you have to start small and build your enterprise from the ground up. You must be resilient, realistic, and passionate about your goals and the impact you are trying to achieve.

To add to your solution, I am sharing with you questions from one of our trainings that can help in refining our ideas and projects
What business model will you follow to implement this idea?
What methodology or strategy will you use during different processes of implementing this idea?
Which are the processes you have to go through until the finalization of the idea?
What means or tools do you need to implement my idea?
Which are your potential collaborators, investors?


Thank you

Eduardo Salgado Aug 16, 2020

Hello! I really appreciate the encouragement.

Thanks for the questions surely will address all those problems.

Kazi Jawoad Hossain Aug 17, 2020

Great Concept. I am curious to know more about pricing strategy and how would you bring doctors to use your App?

Eduardo Salgado Aug 19, 2020

Hi!

Doctors are being brought in two ways: 1) Ad campaing and 2) Voice to voice through medical networks in the country

Ivana Kostic Aug 17, 2020

Hi Eduardo, Great initiative! Did you already have a chance to test proof the app? What is number of citizens of Honduras that have mobile phone with possibility to use apps? And which number of those has downloaded your app? What is your plan to promote the usage of the app, getting people (doctors and patients) to learn about it? Please specify all the modalities of the app for final application. Many thanks, Ivana

Eduardo Salgado Aug 19, 2020

Hi Ivana! I'm glad you liked it.

As a matter of fact we already launched and I'm really glad to tell you that our app is having very good acceptance by our target audience. Honduras is a country of 9.5M people and only 32% have constant internet connection, our app has been downloaded less than 500 times (on Google Play Store) so we have a lot of people to reach! Getting doctors was our first step to launching and we made it through medical networking. The real deal is getting people to use it and we are currently marketing our app through some local TV channels, Facebook Ads and Google Ads.

Carol Kakooza Aug 17, 2020

this is great innovation good luck to you

Eduardo Salgado Aug 19, 2020

Thanks! :)

Htet Zan Linn Aug 18, 2020

Hi Eduardo, being in the same field I totally support your idea to make use of the available technology to enable better healthcare. I am very curious why so many doctors are unemployed ? Especially in this situation where medical doctors are in high demand everywhere ? Is there a specific reason that doctors from Honduras cannot be employed in other latin American countries because I imagine unlike South East Asia where different countries speak different language many latin American countries have shared linguistic ability.

Also if you have so many unemployed doctors do consider getting onto the healthcare content rather than just telemedicine. In my experience content is what drives the users to the app rather than just telemedicine service. It also increases the value of your service.

Good luck !

Eduardo Salgado Aug 19, 2020

Hi Htet! Wow thanks for the feedback

Honduran healthcare has suffer because of privatization over the last 10 years. It is very sad for us as Hondurans to see that despite the global pandemic there has not been a desire to employ doctors despite the fact that it is the time when we need them most. During the last years there have been multiple migratory caravans from our country where professionals of all kinds have left the country but we intend to give some of them alternatives to keep working for a better country.

Thanks again for the encouragement!

Leidy Fajardo Sua Aug 19, 2020

Hi Eduardo, I like this goal: Increase availabilty for specialized doctors to Honduran rural areas. Because this is a very common need in our countries. And it is a very good oportunity to reduce the gap in the access to health for this comunity. They normally have to assume costs of traveling to a main cities to have a date with a specialized doctors.
In Colombia, for example, the public health service do not include this kind of services of telemedicine or similar, in this case, this service is for private health systems. How do you solve this problem, if people in rural areas normally have limited financial resources?

Eduardo Salgado Aug 19, 2020

Hola Leidy!

La verdad que Colombia ha sentado bases para muchos de nuestros países latinoamericanos, nosotros planteamos realizar nuestro proyecto de forma inicial completamente privado debido a las limitaciones que estamos viviendo actualmente siempre llegando a acuerdos para que los médicos reduzcan el precio de sus servicios y que las personas en las zonas rurales puedan evitar gastos tales como transporte, alimentación,etc. Esperamos poder llegar a convenios con gobiernos tanto como ONGs para lograr que personas con limitantes económicas puedan recibir atención medica especializada a bajos costos o incluso gratis.

¡Muchas gracias y saludos desde Honduras!

Joshua GBEMISOLA Aug 19, 2020

Hi Salgado,

Good job. But why only medical doctors? When a patient has access to a medical doctor and vice versa through Doctor7 and certain drugs is recommended, how will the patient have access to quality pharmacy stores/pharmacies to get the drugs? Is inclusion of qualified pharmacies/pharmaceutical stores in your app part of your plan? Can you look at use of drone technology in drug delivery to the patients?

Eduardo Salgado Aug 19, 2020

Hi Joshua, that's a really nice question honestly I haven't considered pharmaceutical access from rural areas. We intend to join pharmacy stores so they can offer their products but we will sure addres this issue. I really like the drone idea!

IKECHUKWU UMEZURUMBA Aug 19, 2020

Hello Eduardo,wonderful idea,i will want to know how is this going to be sustainable?also you said you will be targeting the rural areas my question is considering the literacy level of this group people how will they be able to understand your innovation and adopt it as well?I wish you good luck you have my vote.I will like you to visit https://cocreate.itu.int/post/3466710 for your comments and vote as well.

Eduardo Salgado Aug 19, 2020

Hi!
Well people in this areas have already adapted to new technologies and platforms. We still expect to find resistance because this is a new way to get healthcare in our country but by making it easy for people to use we expect them to adopt it.
Thanks for the feedback!

Israel Abazie Aug 20, 2020

This is an incredibly great concept. To improve your submission, highlight who will use your app. What are the literate capacities of those? Is it a subscription plan or one that operates on freemium model? Most importantly, what does your app do? Be detail enough to guide your audience to the benefits, provisions and the value your app adds to people in your community. Please endeavor to follow me on my journey throughout the ITU challenge. Many thanks

Nabuyuni Sankan Aug 26, 2020

Hello Eduardo

Great initiative and target field.

Most of my questions have been highlighted by the team.Although Kindly elaborate the pricing strategy and the security measures that have been implemented to ensure data been collected and history being shared are protected.

Good Luck Sir Keep at it.
Best Regards.

Jaymer Jayoma Aug 27, 2020

Hello Eduardo, This is a good idea. How do the clients pay the private doctors?

Thanks.

PS: Please like or give advice for my project https://cocreate.itu.int/post/3484280

Calister Simba Aug 31, 2020

Just make sure you read comments and incorporate them in your ides, Go for it!!

Rooting for you!!

Eduardo Salgado Aug 31, 2020

Sure, Thanks!