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At a time when the health tech companies are seeing record growth and investor interest, Practo seems to be out of the picture.

Editor's note: Around 2015, somebody from Practo reached out to the doctor and made an offer they couldn’t refuse. The pitch was fairly simple. For a small subscription fee of just about Rs 12,000, the doctor would get access to an electronic medical record software created by the health tech startup. It basically meant immediate access to a patient’s health records on all the doctor’s devices—something that had seemed possible only for big hospitals. For a neurologist in a small hospital in Chennai, this was a tempting proposition. Additionally, Practo offered the doctor a listing on its customer platform, which for all practical purposes was a Just Dial for doctors; this listing meant exposure to a much bigger pool of potential patients. The doctor didn’t think twice. Having access to online medical records was a game-changer for him. “Everyone around me was signing up,” he says, asking not to be named. “The software was good and helped fix appointments and consultations very quickly.” In a matter of weeks, Practo resolved issues of availability of data of patients, scheduling multiple appointments, all via …
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