Introduction and Mobile Medics

Hi, my name is Naman Shah and I will be pursuing healthcare focused work here at the GDL. My main project involves innovation of the Mobile Medics service based out of Pilani, Rajasthan. Mobile Medics is a for profit business model to bring healthcare services to underserved rural India. Much of rural India is unable to seek proper healthcare due to transportation costs, lost wages, and improper practitioners. Over the last 4 months, Mobile Medics has been providing quality, private sector primary healthcare to 4 villages in the Pilani area for a total of 12,000 villagers and is currently expanding to 10 villages. However, the current business model is not profitable due to low patient volume and is therefore unsustainable. My goal here at the GDL is to make Mobile Medics into a sustainable model by raising patient numbers and lowering costs. Moreover, I intend to scale the service to serve large tracts of rural India, and in the process provide reliable healthcare to villagers across India.

This week, my main goal was to get a first hand experience of Mobile Medics both administratively and out in the field. By the end of the week, I wanted a list of 5 plausible changes that over the next 3 months will raise patient numbers to a profitable level. Currently, there is one pilot Mobile Medic van visiting a total of 10 villages every 3 days. However, the van is not performing at full capacity and is not seeing the expected patient load. We believe that the lack of patients is mainly due to lack of trust. By understanding exactly how Mobile Medics works and delivers services to villagers, I have drafted a plan of action involving 15 changes to the current model that hopefully will allow Mobile Medics to establish brand name, inspire trust in the local area, and thereby become sustainable. My “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” (BHAG) for the project is to make the Mobile Medics model sustainable and scalable throughout India with 100 villages being served by the end of the year. Hopefully through establishment of brand and trust, Mobile Medics will see a large increase in patient volume that allows them to sustain their services and continue to serve rural India.

I believe that I was able to meet my goal of 5 changes and perhaps surpassed. After a full day’s ride along with the Mobile Medics, I was able to get a good feel for the environment in which the company operates. I was also able to realize a few inefficiencies in the operations that will be quick fixes and hopefully will provide a small boost to patient volume. Additionally, through analyzing the Mobile Medics business plan and discussion with their administrators, we have come up with some interesting solutions and expansion ideas that could greatly increase patient volume over the next couple months. The next step is implementation, which is going to be the real challenge in the upcoming weeks.

Currently, we hope to implement these changes in the next 3 months. We aspire to use these 3 months to turn around Mobile Medics and make a significant push towards sustainability in the Mobile Medics model.