Telemedicine and the "doctor bride" phenomenon

Today, one out of every two people in low-income and rural areas of Pakistan cannot get basic healthcare. Pakistan has

• 170,000 doctors,
• 63 per cent of whom are female,
• with only 23 per cent returning to the workforce after marriage

because they have families to raise or come from households where women are not permitted to work outside the home.

In the rugged hill country of rural Pakistan, doctors are few and nearly half of all families receive insufficient medical care, while in the cities, thousands of well-qualified female doctors stay at home, unable to practice their vocation. Pakistani doctor Sara Saeed has addressed both problems with a little digital magic to create a 21st century solution to the issue of healthcare delivery, one that has the potential to work in many remote communities around the world.

What is the “doctor bright praenomen”?

A lot of female doctors do not work after getting their professional degree. Instead, they become „doctor brides“ and stay at home having a family. When Sara was at home with her first child, she had the idea to build a network of health e-clinics – using e-hubs – where nurses act as intermediaries to help patients in low-income and rural communities during tele-consultations with doctors for the full array of primary care services including tertiary care referral. She has successfully brought female doctors back into the workforce within the cultural barriers that exist in Pakistan and connecting them to patients in low-income and rural communities where healthcare access is unavailable, using digital technology.

Sehat Kahani currently has

• 26 e-clinics across Pakistan,
• which have served 120,000 patients
• since 2017.

This provider network brings together 1,500 female doctors, and more than 108 nurses, female health workers and coordinators.