Healthcare is not accessible to every Filipino. This problem is compounded in the provinces by the shortage of healthcare personnel. According to teleconsultation company and app KonsultaMD, there are only 0.25 doctors for every 1,000 patients outside Metro Manila.
Through an upcoming superapp, however, the Philippines may be one step closer to healthcare for every Filipino. On Thursday, Aug. 18, the agreement to consolidate the KonsultaMD, HealthNow, and AIDE apps into the new KonsultaMD superapp was signed.
Think of all those Filipinos where the nearest doctor, the nearest clinic, the nearest hospital, is literally a boat ride away, a town away, an entire day away. These are the people that are underserved and these are the people’s we’re trying to reach,” KonsultaMD chief executive Cholo Tagaysay stated emphatically during the signing.
“So there’s two problems here. There’s a distribution problem and there is a supply problem. Telehealth, digital, helps close the gap for both.”
Set to be launched in the first quarter 2023, the new KonsultaMD superapp will marry the strengths of the three health apps to reach beyond their current combined user base of two million Filipinos.
KonsultaMD’s on-demand teleconsultations, HealthNow’s online medicine delivery, medical records storage service, and vaccination services, as well as AIDE’s home services booking features will all be available on the platform.
Specifically, the superapp will be offering services including on-demand and scheduled consultations, same-day medicine delivery, home-service diagnostics, doctor visits, concierge services, nursing care, fitness coaching, nutritional counseling, and booking for onsite laboratory testing.
More than extending the reach of healthcare in the country, the availability of these services also aims to streamline the patient’s experience online and offline. For instance, right after having a virtual consultation in-app, patients may already book a required on-site laboratory testing through the same platform.
“I’d like to think that KonsultaMD will bring in that continuity of care, so even if you go into the brick-and-mortar clinics, we will still take care of you. Even if you go back home, even if you get sick again, we will be the first touch point,” asserted Beia Latay, former CEO of HealthNow and the new KonsultaMD’s COO.
Notably, due to the resources behind the three apps, the upcoming KonsultaMD superapp is uniquely positioned to accomplish its ultimate goal of making healthcare accessible.
KonsultaMD is managed by Globe Capital Venture Holdings, Inc. (917Ventures), HealthNow is a joint venture between Ayala Healthcare Holdings Inc. (AC Health) subsidiary, Vigos Ventures, Inc, and 917Ventures, and AIDE was acquired by HealthNow in 2022.
Furthermore, the merging of these three apps will be guided by a roadmap provided by Mexican health and wellness company, Salud Interactiva. In short, these apps’ consolidation opens the opportunity to maximize the resources and networks of both the Globe and the Ayala Group.
Ernest Ku, Globe CEO, noted: “The problem of healthcare in the Philippines continues to be unsolved and those are the kinds of things Globe likes to tackle. Where no one is paying attention to that problem, the problem is too big to do in a brick-and-mortar fashion, we need to be able to use our reach and our digital leanings, the network of Globe, the network of GCash, to be able to give Filipinos access to healthcare 24/7 throughout the country.”
“This is one more excellent example of us coming together and creating momentum around one platform to address a pain-point in society,” said Jaime Augusto Zobel, de Ayala, chairman and CEO of Ayala Corporation.
Tagaysay summed up the consolidation: “With this announcement today, we hope to accelerate the adoption of telehealth even further. And move closer to providing healthcare for all Filipinos.”
