Healthtech startups are going through a two-sided pressure: Gaurav Gupta, Co-founder Navia Life Care

In conversation with Financial Express Online Gaurav Gupta, Co-founder Navia Life Care talks about the emergence of telehealth and its importance in the times of pandemic and beyond.

Covid-19 pandemic has increased the number of people opting for telehealth or telemedicine and they are moving past the traditional model of in-person consultations to redefine patients’ doctor healthcare experience. As Indian is hit by the second wave of the COVID-19 and it is a watershed moment for everyone. People are trying to cope up with this situation by taking as many precautions as possible but some precautions can’t be underestimated i.e. treatment of people suffering from chronic diseases or pregnant ladies who need daily/weekly checkups. To avoid doctor visits in person people are adopting teleconsultation. People who are still not okay with adopting teleconsultation are suffering in pain. People have to re-emphasize the importance of digital technologies to get smooth and safe healthcare.

The second wave is too dangerous in India that we or our loved ones are facing its consequences. Many people are fighting this deadly virus and some are even losing it. Health-tech startups are trying to work with patients of all technical abilities, and with providers and clinicians who maybe had never used telehealth before. It’s important for us to be active and to work with existing equipment and technology, if possible. In conversation with Financial Express Online Gaurav Gupta, Co-founder Navia Life Care talks about the emergence of telehealth and its importance in the times of pandemic and beyond.

How this second wave of COVID-19 affected your business? Did it affect your business finances?

We are a healthtech company serving doctors and patients across the country. We have seen a surge in the usage of certain features such as telemedicine in the last few weeks and have invested to improve its capabilities significantly.

Did you have to make difficult choices regarding human resources and what are the lessons learned?

Being a health tech company, we are pressured with more work than normal circumstances and to add to it our team is also highly susceptible to Covid infections. We are cognisant of the fact that with the increasing number of infections our team may get infected or they may need to tend to their family members who are infected, so we as a team are helping each other out and taking up additional responsibilities from the usual work.

Lack of physical medical infrastructure has helped boost tele-health services?

The number of people getting infected daily are far more than our systems are designed to handle, and in addition to this the infection is highly contagious, tele-health or remote consultation is the only viable and safe alternative in this scenario.

How Navia Life Care being a health player is helping govt/people in this unexpected awful second wave of COVID-19

Our team at Navia is helping doctors and patients 24/7 to the best of its capabilities. Research shows that early intervention and close monitoring can help avoiding criticality of a Covid-19 patient, to help with this problem, we have created a Curated Panel of Expert Doctors on our app called “Navia for Patients” and on a web platform where patients can consult Expert Covid Specialists for early intervention by Video Consultation. A few doctors on our panel are even treating the patients for free. Web at naviasmart.health/covid19 and App at bit.ly/NaviaHealthManager

Have healthcare industry/govt have learned from the mistakes that we did in the past i.e. last year when we were hit by the pandemic?

The healthcare ecosystem is overburdened currently and is dealing with an unprecedented pandemic. We are pretty sure that all the ecosystem players have been very agile and have been open to learning from new challenges they are facing everyday. Doctors and patients in the country were extremely quick to accept the technology of tele-medcine and video consultations, which is a perfect example of this agility and learning.

What kind of pressure health-tech startups are going through?

Healthtech startups are going through a two-sided pressure. Being in the healthcare industry, we are over burdened and working extended hours to support both doctors and patients on our platforms. At the same time our teams and their families are battling with Covid-19 infections at home and their loved ones.We are trying to solve this by coming together to help each other both by picking up work from our colleagues and helping their families in whichever way we can.

Anything else you want to share

Stay safe and stay inside your homes as much as you can. Do follow Covid-19 protocols for your safety and for your family’s safety.