No need to visit the doctor for a sick note, says Singapore startup MyDoc

Photo credit: El Payo.

Singapore healthcare startup MyDoc’s latest feature will let employees apply for a medical certificate (MC) online. That means a doctor can issue you a sick note immediately after seeing you in a video consultation.

MCs are the slips you show your employer when you can’t come in to work. They’re also necessary to claim benefits from your insurer.

The convenience of not having to spend time in a doctor’s practice would sound attractive to most people, but the service isn’t available for everyone just yet.

It’s intended for enterprises, not individuals – to reduce the risk of people misusing the system, MyDoc’s VP for marketing, Terng Shing Chen, tells Tech in Asia.

Direct link to HR

Working with corporate partners means MyDoc can ensure all parties agree on standards for issuing the digital MC.

For example, employers can track MC-usage per employee as digital copies can also be sent direct to HR departments, Chen explains.

Taking MCs online improves efficiency for employers, employees, insurers, and doctors because it saves time, he says. It also lets employees choose which doctor to consult, instead of being restricted by time and proximity.

“Our insurance partners estimate that between 60 to 75 percent of all clinic visits can be handled through digital consultations,” says Chen.

MyDoc already offers “telemedicine” services like online consultation and electronic prescriptions – a service coined “virtual clinic.” Adding digital MCs removes another reason to visit a doc in real life.

Insurer AXA in Singapore is one early adopter of its virtual clinic, says Chen – and Facebook’s Singapore office is also in the process of implementing it for its employees. Whether they will add digital MCs is decided case-by-case.

After fully rolling out in Singapore, MyDoc will consider launching in other markets, Chen adds.

Investors poured $5b into healthtech last year

Digital solutions are becoming increasingly relevant in the healthcare sector, in Asia as well as the rest of the world. Healthtech advisory firm Galen Growth Asia says total venture investment into the sector stood at US$5 billion in 2016, with the number of deals growing to 622 from 574 in 2015. Startups in genomics, analytics and big data, wearables and biosensors, telemedicine, and digital medical devices attracted most of the investment, it found.

MyDoc launched in August 2014 and in the same year received a US$2.2 million boost from Wavemaker Partners, August Capital Partners, and Singapore government fund Spring Seeds Capital. The startup says it also received additional funding from a single investor in March this year, but declined to mention the investor’s name and size of the investment.