Consult a Doctor Through Lybrate, The Mobile App, Instead of Self Medication

Lybrate, a newly launched mobile app, was developed to cut down the health risks from self-medication and to enable an interface between patients and doctors. Nexus Venture Partners has backed the capital for the firm. “The idea is to make healthcare more accessible by connecting 70,000 doctors and health experts from various branches of medicines, such as allopathy, homeopathy, ayurveda, unani, siddha among other," said Saurabh Arora, CEO, Lybrate.

Arora said they did a survey, which shows that 52% Indians indulged in self-medication and 49% respondents cited time constraint as the reason, 30% felt that high consultation fees by doctors force them to use self medication.

“Also, many people these days consult the Internet and buy medicines over the counter, which is detrimental to health in the long run,” said Arora.

The app, termed as an ‘online OPD’ (out-patient department), intends to bridge the demand-supply gap, where multiple doctors will initially offer medical advice for free and later, if the patient wants to take the treatment ahead, will charge a fee.

Jagdish Prasad, Directorate General of Health Services, cautioned against multiple doctors advising a patient on the app, as this could add to confusion in taking the right decision.

Lybrate has also created a portal listing out the do’s and don’ts. It will also connect with about 2,000 chemists in Delhi-NCR to educate them against directly prescribing medicines to patients.

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Source-Medindia