MDLinking aims to be a WhatsApp, LinkedIn and virtual reality video library rolled into one to allow doctors from Afghanistan to Angola to share skills
Imagine you’re a doctor in Swindon and a patient with a chewing tobacco habit turns up with unusual tongue lesions. What if you could, at the press of a few buttons, locate and get instant advice from the Mumbai-based world expert on cancers related to chewing tobacco?
This is the vision for a new app which aims to transform the way in which 8.5 million doctors around the world share their knowledge and skills.
MDLinking – an expert directory, instant messaging service and video source – began trialling a beta version for iPhones in May this year and aims to launch its full Apple and Android versions before 2017.
The Dutch startup, which has €2.5m of seed funding, has several hundred testers in the Netherlands, 4,000 registered doctors so far and is in talks with organisations including Médecins Sans Frontières and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) about using its free software.
“The original idea was that if doctors worldwide connect with each other and share knowledge, healthcare will improve on a global level” says Alec Behrens, co-founder of Booking.com and founding partner of MDLinking.
Instant messaging
Many doctors are already using instant messaging tools to discuss patient cases. A 2015 survey found more than 30% of doctors surveyed said they were sending patient related information over services such as WhatsApp. Read More…