Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based Medvarsity Online, a healthcare ed-tech company that offers training programmes for the medical fraternity, is planning to set up 24 centres across the country by December this year. It has already launched one such centre in Hyderabad this month, said Gerald Jaideep, Chief Executive Officer, Medvarsity Online.
These centres will be the nodal points for training programmes and they will also bring local subject matter experts to interact with those undertaking the skill programmes. Among others, Medvarsity will also work on training modules in digital health practices, telemedicine and use of data analytics and information technology for the management of medical emergencies, whose use is on the rise.
Covid has brought to the fore the critical gaps in the medical ecosystem. In the last one year, competencies of doctors, nurses, technicians or paramedics and others have tested. “For instance, the Government had placed an order for about 80,000 mechanical ventilators. However, there were only 15,000 personnel trained in handling such ventilators a year ago,” said Jaideep adding that Medvarsity trained about 1.2 lakh doctors in one year to handle these.
Medvarsity now offers 140 courses that span three to six months. The courses are priced Rs 45,000 to Rs 60,000. Doctors look at these programmes for career growth or better earning capability within their network, said Jaideep. There are also programmes that bring awareness. These 60-90 minute modules are charged about Rs 2,500 .
Model
“We partnered with 70-plus hospitals in the country. Doctors coming to us for courses will be temporarily deployed at one of these hospitals. These courses are mainly for those who have an MBBS degree,” he said.
According to him, Diabetes Mellitus and Emergency Medicine are popular among learners.
“Trauma, accidents, cardiac arrests and respiratory disorders are the areas that see more fatalities and need more proficient handling,” he said.
“Before Covid, the focus of the medical fraternity was on non-communicable diseases like diabetes and oncology, cardiac conditions, hypertension and the kind. But Covid has brought the focus back on infectious diseases and respiratory disorders,” Jaideep said.
Pre-Covid, the company, which is backed by the Apollo Group, used to get about 5,000-6,000 learners a month on its platform. Now, it is seeing a ten-fold rise and about 50,000 to 60,000 learners are coming every month, he said. However, about 85 per cent of them are from Tier-I cities. “More doctors from Tier II cities should upgrade their skills. The need is more there,” he said.
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today onTelegrameveryday. Click the link to subscribe.