Two Indirapuram residents open up rural India to world-class healthcare

Imagine a cancer patient in a remote Indian village. He has to travel miles to reach the nearest speciality hospital, find accommodation in the city, wait in line for his turn and shell out a fortune even for a five-minute appointment with a doctor. What if he could do that from home — that too, at a nominal fee?

ConsultNext aims to do just that.

The brainchild of two Indirapuram residents, Sandeep Kaushal (CEO) and Debasis Sahoo (Business Head), ConsultNext is a secure, flexible and private video-consultation platform acting as a bridge between patients in rural areas and healthcare specialists across the country. It is set to start operations from June 1.

ConsultNext aims to provide patients access to top-notch medical practitioners at a nominal fee, regardless of where they are based. The website will be a boon to patients from remote areas who do not have access to proper healthcare. It also does not require them to go through a complicated registration process on the website.

With operations starting from an office in Vaishali, ConsultNext also plans to open centres in Rajasthan, Odisha, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

Here's all you need to know about the initiative.

The idea.

Sandeep Kaushal, the CEO, empathises with patients from rural areas. He understands what it means to travel to the nearest city every time one wants to consult a good doctor. Kaushal has gone through the ordeal several times in the past and he does not want anyone else to go through the same hassle. The idea to start ConsultNext came from the heart.   

Anywhere, anytime.

Patients and doctors can interact from home, while they are travelling, and during emergencies. We are building a network of ConsultNext centres across India to bridge the gap between rural India and urban healthcare.

It's easy.

Patients can register on www.consultnext.com or download the ConsultNext app from Google Play Store. Users can make appointments either through the website or the app, and then go on to, say, consult a doctor in Delhi or Mumbai.

No net? No problem. 

Once our centres are operational across the country, patients will be able to visit them and set up appointments with the help of our tech support teams stationed there. Being net-savvy is not a pre-requisite; our tech support team will provide assistance for all the sessions. 

Go paperless.

The company has made a provision for storing an individual's medical data online, so say goodbye to rummaging around for that five-year-old prescription. After registration, one can log on to the site and upload one's medical reports and prescriptions for future access. Our tech support team will help upload reports and prescriptions, in case patients are unable to do so themselves.

Free Sunday sessions.

Alok Kumar, chairman of the company and president of FedAOA, incorporated a social service dimension into the platform. Patients who cannot afford fees can avail themselves of free sessions on Sundays.

Alok Kumar, chairman of the company and resident of Arihant Harmony

Head honchos:

• Sandeep Kaushal is a resident of SPS Residency, Indirapuram. He has worked as a software developer. 
• Debasis Sahoo is an experienced business strategist who has played diverse roles in the industrial sector. He has also served as a consultant for the Directorate of Income Tax (Systems), Ministry of Finance. 
• Alok Kumar is an RTI activist who has filed more than 3,000 RTIs. He is also the President of FedAOA, the apex body of Ghaziabad apartment owners' association. He has been actively involved in residents' struggle against builders, and a number of civic issues. 
• Alok Kumar and Debasis Sahoo are the president and general secretary of Arihant Harmony respectively.