This Gurugram-based Startup is Transforming India’s Healthcare Delivery Network Using Telemedicine

Tattvan E-Clinic is the giant strides into Tele-medicine space through the assistance of Technology. It is the first of its kind Tele-medicine healthcare clinics which connects the world-class medical care to remote locations of the country. It was initially started in 2017 from Gurgaon but the first Tattvan E-Clinic was launched in Bareilly in 2018. We are publishing an interview with Ayush Atul Mishra – Co-Founder and CEO, Tattvan.

Q. What is the problem you are trying to solve? Please share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem.
Ans: Rural health care in India has always been a major issue. Almost 70% of the Indian population resides in remote or rural areas and this section of society does not have access to quality health care facilities. The condition of medical facilities in these areas is deplorable and the mortality rates are very high due to the dearth of qualified medical functionaries. According to industry reports, rural India has a limited number of primary health care centers out of which 8% of these centers do not have medical staff, 39% don’t have skilled lab technicians and 18% don’t have pharmacists.

These numbers are precarious, and it is a fact that the rural population suffers needlessly due to a lack of access to quality health care facilities. The prime objective behind Tattvan E-Clinic is to make high-quality medical facilities accessible to every corner of India. Residents of tier 2 and tier 3 cities have to travel to metropolitan cities for the treatment of basic ailments which is extremely expensive for them.

To resolve this issue, Tattvan E-Clinics connects patients living in small towns with expert medical practitioners in leading hospitals for the treatment. The technology used by Tattvan E-Clinics allows doctors to perform OPDs remotely. Tattvan E-Clinics are always manned by dedicated medical staff which helps rural patients to get connected with doctors for consultations and examination. The success rate of these remotely performed OPDs is significantly higher than the regular ones.

Besides, it costs merely Rs. 600 wherein regular OPDs in metropolitan cities cost around Rs. 1000 – 1500. Hence, Tattvan E-Clinic aims to offer affordable, timely and quality medical facilities to the patients in rural areas of the country.

Q. List all the names of the core Team Members, along with their Designated Roles – How you see them evolving. What would be each of their Skill Sets? – Elaborate also if any of the team members has specific domain expertise.
Ans: The core team includes Ayush Mishra, CEO and Co-Founder with Sudhakar Ranga, Chief Strategic Officer and Co-Founder, Dr Sanjay Swaroop and Chris Cummings (advisors for Tattvan), Jimmy Mennon, General Manager- Strategic Alliances (involved with business development and project management), Shivangi Tiwari, Assistant Manager- Strategic Alliances (involved in business development and managing strategic relations with organizations), Ranveer Chaudhary- Senior Manager-Operations (manages operations and ensures setting up of new clinics at various location) and Ebra Khan, Assistant Manager-Operation (manages activities at care partner hospitals, handles various engagement with the media and legal team).

In terms of the evolution of the team at hand, all the people associated with Tattvan are going to be the future leaders in the field of tele-medicine. These are the people responsible for the culmination of an entire industry all together. There have start-ups in the past globally, founders of which are the global leaders in the respective niche today. I am optimistic for the same with the core team of Tattvan as well.

Q. What is your USP? What is the insight that you have about this market, which no one else has? Uniqueness about your Startup.
Ans: Tattvan E-Clinics provide access to high-quality health care facilities to people from smaller cities and town. With Tattvan E-Clinic, patients from remote areas get connected to the specialist doctors from metropolitan cities via on-screen consultation for immediate consultation and treatment.

Tattvan has made it possible to deliver affordable yet quality healthcare in the areas where good medical practitioners or clinics are not available. It leverages teleconference technology to allow doctors to examine and treat patients beyond geographical restrictions. The doctors who examine patients at Tattvan E-Clinic practice at renowned hospitals such as Medanta and Artemis.

Remotely performed OPDs at Tattvan have a 76% higher success rate as compared to the conventional OPDs. With such medical facilities, rural patients now need to travel to metro cities only if it is required as the major part of treatment can be handled at E-Clinics only. Tattvan uses fast connectivity ensuring medical practitioners can examine patients well at affordable rates.

Q. What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learning that you have? Who in your mind is your ideal customer? Do you have at least one of them signed up?
Ans: Before entering the market, through personal experiences and in-depth market research we accumulated the insights which revealed a huge void of access to quality healthcare facilities in rural India. After identifying the lack of quality healthcare facilities, clinics, medical practitioners and diagnostic labs in rural areas, Tattvan’s major target was to fill this void prevailing in different regions of India. Our prime target customers were the patients in rural areas who may or may not have enough resources to get good medical treatment and facilities. These people have to travel to metropolitan cities to access quality treatment which is expensive and time taking which many times prove to be fatal for serious patients. Tattvan E-Clinics primarily target such people to facilitate them with advanced technology through which they can get consulted and treated from expert medical practitioners practicing in top hospitals like Medanta and Artemis.

Q. Is there any interesting success story of your startup? If yes, please write about it?
Ans: Last year, Tattvan experienced a major success when it correctly diagnosed a 4-year-old boy Kanaha who was earlier misdiagnosed as suffering from a seizure disorder since he was 2. The child was under heavy medication which consequently had drastic side-effects. After getting aware of Tattvan, Kanaha’s parents visited Tattvan E-Clinic and consulted a doctor from Artemis. The doctor advised his parents to get an EEG done for Kanaha. Unfortunately, there was no reliable diagnostic center to perform EEG in Bareilly due to which Kanaha was taken to Artemis to undergo a reliable EEG. The medical report discovered that the boy was not suffering from a seizure disorder and had been medicated incorrectly. Subsequently, his medication was stopped to spare him from wrong treatment and hazardous side effects. Fortunately, Kanaha is living a normal life today and his parents are delighted to see their kid doing all those things which a 4-year-old child does.

Q. Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture? Please explain in detail.
Ans: Tattvan’s first E-Clinic was launched in Bareilly in July 2018 and since then the startup continued to flourish and attain its goals. After Bareilly, Tattvan opened its E-Clinics across several cities including Kashipur in Uttarakhand, Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, Rudrapur in Uttarakhand, Dehradun in Uttarakhand. Besides, it made its global presence with its first overseas clinic in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The popularity and utility of Tattvan E-Clinics are highly visible as in Bareilly, 150 people were treated in the first month of its launch. Out of these 150 patients, 35 were referred to Artemis hospital in Gurgaon. Tattvan E-Clinic gains tremendous popularity with the word of mouth about the fact that its Bareilly E-Clinic is treating 4 to 5 patients regularly. Overseas also, Tattvan’s E-Clinic in Kabul received an exceptional success rate by treating 10-12 patients daily.

Q. Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? How do you differentiate yourself from them?
Ans: Apollo tele health is one of the potential competitions in B2B and B2G domains. Other than that Doctor Insta could be considered as a competition. However, Tattvan operates on a unique model which acts as a key differentiator in comparison with the other companies offering the service of tele-medicine. The model on which Tattvan functions is a mix of bopth mobile application and physical clinics and all of this is in the form of a unique B2C retail model. This is one of the major ways by which Tattvan offers an advance offering to the people.

Q. What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months? Any other information you would like to share?
Ans: Tattvan has made a strong presence in the industry. Soon, the startup would work on expanding the horizon of awareness and understanding about the concept of E-Clinics and its advantages amongst masses. It would make people learn about the significance of using technology to gain quality healthcare services and to recommend it to their friends and families to ensure maximum people are leveraging this high-tech facility. Alongside, Tattvan aspires to build a strong network of Delhi cluster hospitals by connecting them with the nearby cities from where patients travel to Delhi for advanced treatment. Tattvan is expecting to open 50 more E-Clinics in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and Jharkhand this year and E-Clinics overseas in Bangladesh, Tajikistan, and Uganda.

Q. What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs?
Ans: I have always said that the younger you are, the higher is the risk-taking appetite you have. India is at a paramount state of having an added advantage of a relatively young demography. However, the only way the country can fully utilize the potential is by ensuring that the basic amenities of primary and secondary healthcare reaches at the grass root level. There are various private hospitals that are currently offering secondary healthcare services. Unfortunately, the benefit of such super specialty hospitals is restricted to metropolitan cities in most of the cases. Together with the government initiatives, I think if the young entrepreneurs’ venture in the direction of bridging the healthcare services gaps between the metropolitan and Tier-2 / Tier-3 cities then we can go a long way in truly extracting the best of the present demography of the country ultimately leading to the nation’s progress.

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Thanks Ayush. All the best!