No time to get your cholesterol levels tested or unable to decipher what the test report means? Well, mylabyogi.com promises to help demystify that diagnostic report for you.

And if it is an ambulance you need, or a gift health-package for your mother in a different city, or just an appointment with a good dentist close to your residence – help is a click away at giftahealth.com.

Online healthcare options, giving you nutrition tips, services and information on an array of illnesses, are not just increasing – they are getting more localised, as well.

While health-related information is popular on the internet, in India, as the joint-family system fades, the traditional system of getting information is also affected, observes Dr Purvish Parikh, Medical Adviser to Medico.in, a platform that helps consumers drive their health.

Overseas there are portals like WebMD, and illness specific patient-support portals. The trend is picking up locally to balance the time and requirements of people, he says.

However, the problem with the internet is information is not reliable, so people look for sources run by health experts and people with credentials, he adds. Medico.in was launched earlier this month by global health-focused internet company Medico.com Inc.

Differentiators

The 18-month-old giftahealth is to healthcare what makemytrip is to the travel industry, explains a spokesperson with Atharveda Healthcare, promoter of giftahealth.

Consumers can access services of Kingfisher, Jet airways and Air India on the travel portal, similarly giftahealth has access to about 2000 labs through the Thyrocare networks; besides alliances with 40 hospitals and 65 polyclinics, the spokesperson adds.

In fact, consumers get a 20 per cent discount on services with an additional 15 per cent for ICICI customers, the portal representative said.

The two-week-old mylabyogi differentiates itself by focusing on the last-mile for the consumer, says co-founder Mr Aneesh Khanna.

Technicians come home, take samples that need to be tested, send an online test report earlier in the day, and a hard copy delivery later in the day, all in less than Rs 100 (besides the diagnostic test cost.)

It links-up with seven labs in Mumbai, plans to double that number, and spread to Pune, Delhi and Bangalore, with similar networks.

On the expertise side, it looks to help consumers decipher their lab reports and eventually also help spot trends to help manage one's health, he says.

Giftahealth also aspires to do more than just being a “techie” method to access healthcare, as it plans to create awareness on free Government schemes accessible to economically under-privileged families at corporate hospitals; besides networking with rural doctors to spread the word on such facilities. The venture is seeking funding to fuel growth.

Young ventures

Mylabyogi is an entrepreneurial venture of 30-somethings, who gave up middle management posts to do “something meaningful” in healthcare. In the same age-group, also quitting her job was Ms Mayuri Patil, who with her family conceptualised giftahealth, after a family member was able to avert surgery through an alternate treatment.

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