MeraMD January 19, 2008
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Healthcare , trackbackMeraMD launched this month in an attempt to be an online directory for Indian doctors and healthcare institutions. Their press release claims a listing of over 10000 hospitals/clinics and over 25000 doctors in India, but my search for a cardiologist in Delhi didn’t return any results.
I know, I know. I’m over-critical and they might be ramping up on content currently, having been public for barely few days. But my point here is to highlight the increasing tendency of web startups- they all seem to be anxious to get out there as soon as possible, without giving much thought to getting it right or the first user impression. It’s something that is not limited to Indian web startups, only more prominent in them.
The site has better than average design. They also go over the oft-ignored question of ‘How do we make money’ on their About page: The ubiquitous advertising-based business model with free user access to content. The interesting (and possibly viable) twist is their registration-based revenue from doctors and hospitals. That might actually sustain MeraMD, given the fact that healthcare insurance is taking off in India and the web is emerging as a infrastructure to some extent.
I couldn’t find any public information about big names or pockets backing MeraMD. Some facts point towards a NRI benefactor/founder though: choice of name (MD is an abbreviation more common in US), above-average design, somewhat thought through business model, to name a few. Lookout for more healthcare related web startups for India- the wave is coming.
Comments»
MeraMD’s data on doctors is currently targetted towards mainly orthopedics and dentists as of now. This should have been noted on the site. You are right in most of your observations and we working on increasing the content on breakneck speed. Do try the hospital search, the data there is more comprehensive.