New app to help patients connect with doctors
An app that lets patients book appointments with doctors and have round-the-clock tele-consults with them was launched yesterday.
Patients here and in Australia can access over 500 clinics and 600 general practitioners (GPs), specialists and dentists from the two countries through the MaNaDr app.
Patients are charged slightly cheaper fees for tele-consults with doctors compared to face-to-face consultations at the clinic.
Patients can text doctors and send pictures of their medical conditions through the app for the tele-consults, which are mostly used as follow-up consultations.
The app is part of a larger healthcare platform, also called MaNaDr.
SET UP BY DOCS
It is owned by healthcare firm Mobile Health, which was set up by a group of doctors here.
Dr Siaw Tung Yeng, Mobile Health's founder and chief executive officer, said he and his team of doctors were motivated by a vision of a mobile platform that empowers patients to take charge of their healthcare.
Dr David Cheong, one of Mobile Health's co-founders and its chief medical officer, charges $3 for the first few messages for the tele-consult, and 50 cents for subsequent messages - a big discount from his usual consultation fee of $30.
Dr Siaw said the app provides an extra stream of revenue for doctors through paid tele-consults, though they do not have to pay a fee to put their services on it.
Since the app was soft-launched in January, close to 100,000 appointments have been booked.
It can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store and the Apple Store.
Similar apps are available in the market, such as MyDoc, which lets users tele-consult doctors and pharmacists on simple illnesses.
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