Bookdoc aims to be the Alibaba of healthcare in Southeast Asia

By Massita Ahmad

SINGAPORE, June 11 (Bernama) -- Malaysia-based BookDoc aims to be the world's largest online healthcare platform equivalent to Alibaba of Healthcare in Southeast Asia in five years' time, said its founder Datuk Chevy Beh.

Launched in 2015, BookDoc is the online platform for health care that connects and unites patients with medical care professionals.

Beh's optimism was based on BookDoc's progress over the years.

In just over two years, BookDoc has managed to bring together navigation, transport, accommodations and leisure functionalities 'under one roof'.

"BookDoc has established an integrated online ecosystem for local and overseas health travellers.

"So far, we are the first healthcare online platform in Asia that provides such services," he told Bernama on the sidelines of Stewardship Asia Roundtable 2018 recently.

The ecosystem allows users to search and book healthcare professionals anytime and anywhere, and integrates seamlessly with Google Map, Waze, Grab, Uber, AirAsia, Agoda and Airbnb as well as TripAdvisor.

"We will have a complete medical journey for any one particular patient," said Beh, who was one of the speakers at the Roundtable which was also attended by Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings, Ho Ching.

BookDoc also has plans to work with many more health care institutions.

At the moment, it has an extensive network of health care practitioners in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia.

BookDoc has been working, among others, with Malaysia's National Heart Institute, Subang Jaya Medical Centre and KPJ Healthcare; in Singapore with NTUC Unity Denticare, Q&M Dental and the National Kidney Foundation; Hong Kong's Quality Healthcare Medical Services, Adventist Hospital, Townhealth and with Siloam Hospital in Indonesia.

Beh himself has a background in the health care industry and began developing BookDoc as a way to connect patients to health care providers.

"Our aim is to expedite diagnosis and patient care," said Beh.

According to him, BookDoc was planning to have better relationships with more health care providers, insurance companies and government agencies.

"Efficiency will reduce cost. Through BookDoc, we could reduce medical costs further," he said.

BookDoc currently has presence in five countries, namely Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia, spanning 20 cities.

Its fitness tracker, BookDoc Activ, rewards users for maintaining high level of activity by partnering major retailers and service providers that offer users discounts for achieving reward tiers based on activity level.

Among the reward partners are Zalora, Fave (Groupon), Guardian, Secret Recipe, Oldtown White Coffee, Coffee Bean and many more.

-- BERNAMA