Pained by the sufferings of patients in Kashmir a young hospitality graduate quit his job to introduce care at door-step.  Heena Muzzafar reports

In 2015, after serving Hyderabad-based Bismillahi Rehmani Rahim  – a company that deals in pharmaceuticals, mining and Islamic finance – for five years as its Managing Director Operations, when Aadil Rashid Lone, 30, finally quit, he had his goals set.

A resident of Khanyar area in Srinagar, Aadil wanted to ease the pain of patients in Kashmir. “The idea was to make healthcare available at your fingertips,” said Aadil.

Within no time the idea took shape of a start-up called NextCare.  Functional since April 2016, NextCare works on simple principles of delivering medicare at your doorstep. “All you need to do is to give us a call,” said Aadil. “And our man will arrive at your doorstep within no time.”

One can order medicines, ask for a collection of blood and other related samples for tests, and many other things. “It is all free of cost,” said Aadil.

Aadil started NextCare in partnership with Ishfaq Ahmad Mir, a resident of Nawabazar in Srinagar. “He (Ishfaq) is a sleeping partner only,” said Aadil.

The company has tied up with major retail chemists who help NextCare deliver medicine at the doorstep. “All services are offered 24×7,” said Aadil.

However, medicines are delivered to the customers on the same day, who call up to 2 pm. In cases, where sample collection is not possible at home, a patient is driven to the lab.

Aadil, a graduate from Institute of Hotel Management, Rajbagh, has a number of computer diplomas to his name. “I have worked with Dell for five years as its senior support engineer for the USA,” said Aadil.

So far, in the last three months of operations, NextCare has received more than two hundred requests. “Most of the orders are for blood pressure, cardiovascular, diabetes and thyroid-related issues,” shared Aadil. “In future, when the response will increase, it will give us an idea to understand the nature of illness in Kashmir to a large extent.”

The idea, says Adil, was to ease the pain of patients who have to suffer even in illness. “We are looking forward to creating a system where we can help patients fix appointments with doctors,” said Aadil.

NextCare is planning to start Triage system – a system of marking urgency of wounds or illnesses that helps in deciding order of treatment – for patients to save their time and money.  “With the help of Triage we can actually refer patient to the concerned doctor,” feels Aadil.

The system works in a smart way as it can accurately detect reason of disease. A normal headache can be because of multiple reasons, so a patient, instead of using hit and trial method, can give us a call and share his problem. “We will help identify the right doctor and fix an appointment too,” said Aadil. “We will then introduce patient feedback system as well. It will help doctors to improve.”

Aadil has recruited three boys, Zahid Shafi (26), Sheikh Tariq (32), and Muneer (26), for 24×7 customer care services and delivery of goods.

For cardiac and psychiatric patients, Aadil wants to help them by introducing Quran verses as hearing therapy.

There are number of issues Aadil wants to address, but he is taking one step at a time.  “I want to introduce diet chart for thyroid and diabetic patients,” said Aadil. “Also we are looking forward to introducing medical tourism. We will help fix appointments for patients in hospitals outside Kashmir.”

NextCare is planning to rope in physiotherapists who will offer home service. “We will have male physiotherapists for male patients and female physiotherapists for female patients,” said Aadil. “For now, we are taking one step at a time.”

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