BookDoc mobile app improves patient-doctor connection

The rise of application-based disruptive innovations such as the transport booking platform Uber and navigation tool Waze demonstrates how technology continues to improve everyday life. Building on this megatrend, BookDoc harnesses technology to improve health care access in Malaysia and the rest of Southeast Asia through a medical-focused application.

Among the first online health care platforms in the Asia-Pacific, BookDoc was founded in July by two young Malaysians - Chevy Beh, the former CEO and managing director of BP Healthcare, and Joel Neoh, founder of Groupon Malaysia and former CEO of Groupon Asia Pacific. The company developed a mobile app - also named BookDoc - that gives patients greater control in choosing a medical practitioner or a hospital.

"Providing transparency in health care spells the difference between life and death," Beh says. "We want to remove the 'black box' system in health care, wherein not enough information is available to the public about the availability of medical service providers. We are a technological enabler of a platform that will make the health care ecosystem more efficient."

By making information readily accessible to anyone, BookDoc also helps paint Malaysia as a more attractive destination for medical tourism. With a commitment to patient safety, BookDoc will list legally registered medical practitioners who comply with local laws and in good medical standing to protect patients from fraudulent doctors.

The first phase of the app will enable patients to book appointments using simple steps. For the second phase, patients will have access to real-time doctor availability, hospital bed availability, telemedicine, home care and more.

Aside from the timesaving benefits it offers, the application also eliminates unnecessary extended exposure to other sick patients in waiting rooms - adding a measure in controlling the spread of contagious diseases.