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Know how WeClinic brings teleconsultation to homeopathy via WhatsApp

WeClinic is a comprehensive homeopathic healthcare platform that has has consulted over one lakh patients. The company was founded in 2019 by Alok Katiyar and Dr Deeksha Katiyar.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the alternative medicine business in India, particularly homeopathy, has expanded rapidly. According to one research, the worldwide homeopathic business would be worth $13.5 billion by 2028. According to AYUSH Ministry data, India accounts for roughly 12,000 new homeopathic practitioners each year.

While the demand for homeopathic medications is increasing, their over-the-counter availability in medical shops is limited since they are suited to the patient’s needs and intake varies from person to person.

“So, a patient needs to first contact a homeopathic physician before taking any drug,” said Alok Katiyar, Co-founder of WeClinic, “and many times, these physicians offer medicines to the patient from their clinics.”

To remedy this void in the homeopathic healthcare industry, Alok and Dr Deeksha Katiyar founded WeClinic in 2019 to offer in-person consultations as well as teleconsultation-based homeopathic services.

He continues, “We observed that, despite the fact that homeopathy was gaining popularity in India, doctors were only treating a small population through physical clinics. In India, which lacked contemporary homeopathic clinics, there were no major participants in this field.”

In 2020, the founders opened a clinic in Kanpur for physical consultations, but it quickly ran into problems.

As a result, they began online consultations, which set the groundwork for teleconsultation services and signaled the beginning of home delivery of drugs.

However, online payment proved to be a barrier, so they investigated the cash-on-delivery concept. However, it steadily built a stable patient base and is currently counseling over 9,000 people every month, according to Alok, a second-time entrepreneur and IIT-Roorkee dropout.

Prior to WeClinic, he established MadGuy Labs, an app that provided training for government professions in vernacular languages.

He says, “Patients may communicate their medical history, documents, prescriptions, and so on with our team via WhatsApp. After that our physicians evaluate and take action as needed.”

The clinical management system is a customized tool developed specifically for homeopathic telemedicine services. WeClinic provides each patient a dedicated health manager who answers patient inquiries from the time they order medications until they recover. “The health manager is always in contact with the patient,” Alok continues, “and in the event of an emergency, the manager helps schedule appointments with the doctor” (s).

Piles, fistulas, fissures, arthritis, and male sexual abnormalities are among the ailments and disorders addressed by the company. It intends to hire additional specialists in conditions such as PCOD and PCOS, spondylitis, renal stone, gout, kidney stone, and others. It now employs six homeopathic practitioners, led by Dr. Deeksha Katiyar. It now employs 60 people and plans to add 50 more by 2023.

Consultations on the site are now only available in Hindi, but the business aims to include Kannada shortly. WeClinic generates money from two sources: doctor consultation fees and profit margins from pharmaceutical orders.

The consultation and prescription fees are Rs 300, and the business also provides a Rs 1,200 monthly subscription that allows people to consult three times, acquire prescriptions, and have drugs delivered to their home.

According to WeClinic, patient consultations are increasing at a rate of 10% month on month (MoM), and the firm is making Rs 60 lakh in monthly sales. According to Alok, each doctor sees 30 people every day. Over a lakh patients have been consulted by the site to date.

The platform receives around 60% of its traffic from rural regions and 40% from urban areas, which include places such as Lucknow, Jaipur, Ghaziabad, Noida, Patna, and Ranchi. “Right now, our focus is on increasing our patient base in North India’s Hindi-speaking belt,” adds Alok.

Around 30% of users are from Uttar Pradesh, 15% are from Bihar, and 10%-12% are from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. WeClinic produced Rs 2.5 crore in income in FY21 and is expected to make Rs 8 crore by the end of current year. Its user base is expected to increase by more than 60% during the following two quarters.

The founders initially spent Rs 5 lakh of their own funds in the firm and intend to keep it bootstrapped.

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