oDoc is a Sri Lankan smartphone app that connects patients with doctors for video consultations. Think Uber for doctor visits, and take out having to even leave your home. Available for all smartphones at www.odoc.life/get, oDoc is the easiest way to see a doctor in Sri Lanka.

Convenience for all is oDoc’s focus. The app lets you choose from a group of over 35 fully SLMC-registered GPs and Specialists, request a consultation, upload any lab reports or images and conduct a video consultation all within 20 minutes. Consultations end with an e-prescription delivered to the patient (if medically required), with the facility of choosing home delivery of medicines. The service is available for use from anywhere at any time of the day.

The American Medical Association recently concluded that nearly 75% of all doctor visits could be effectively handled by video consultation. In this light, oDoc represents a smart alternative to the vast majority of doctor visits currently conducted at clinics and hospitals causing unnecessary hassle for all.

For patients, their families and doctors, the platform dramatically increases convenience in giving and receiving healthcare. The pain of spending hours in traffic and in hospital waiting rooms is eliminated. Patients receive medical advice and prescriptions faster and avoid exerting themselves when already weak. This means, they get better sooner.

Doctors can now consult patients right from their mobile phones from anywhere. By moving ad hoc remote patient interactions from apps like Whatsapp to oDoc, doctors can deliver a more structured and professional telemedicine service to their patients while being compensated for the time spent on these consultations. This means doctors can serve patients better while boosting their incomes and freeing up more time for their personal lives.

The startup has recently introduced a surprisingly affordable option for the core employee medical benefits offered by Sri Lankan companies. For just Rs. 149 per month per employee, businesses are now able to grant their employees unlimited free access to GPs and Specialists for video consultations on oDoc. This cost includes all doctor fees. The business package is available either for all employees on their mobile phones through the oDoc app, or through an oDoc terminal installed in factory or workplace sick rooms. Employees no longer need to take half-days off to get in front of a doctor and lose less productive hours to illness.

In the long run, through receiving immediate and early treatment for their medical conditions, they will need to make fewer claims on OPD and in-patient medical costs. The benefit to larger companies is immediately lower costs on medical benefits. For many more smaller companies, medical care for their valuable employees is finally an option. In both cases, the business benefits through a healthier and happier workforce.

Developed over 12 months by a team led by a Stanford Ph.D., two of the former youngest AVPs of the John Keels Group and a General Physician, the service has already reached 5,000 registered users and over 20,000 corporate users. oDoc’s potential for making a truly positive change in how people give and receive healthcare has already been recognised both by investors including Ajit Gunewardene, LOLC and Brandix and policy makers who awarded oDoc the Commonwealth Digital Health Award in Telemedicine for 2017.