China's largest online healthcare platform, Ping An Good Doctor, is setting its sights on Southeast Asian expansion to tap growing regional demand for healthcare services and cater to the increasing number of middle-class mainland Chinese who are travelling to the region for medical treatment.
The platform, which already boasts 300 million users in mainland China, is eyeing a launch in Thailand or Indonesia to mark its entry into the region, which is home to 630 million people. To support this move, Ping An in August formed a joint venture with Grab to use the Singaporean ride-hailing and payment service's extensive network in eight Southeast Asian countries. The collaboration also marks Grab's first foray into the healthcare field.
Ping An Good Doctor was initially developed five years ago as a solution for middle-class Chinese people with problems accessing China's government healthcare system, where hospitals typically have lengthy waiting lists and many patients must commute long distances to see a doctor. The app, created by Ping An Insurance Group before it was spun off and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange earlier this year, provides an AI-powered platform with services including in-depth health and wellness content, medical appointment booking and medication sales.
The company recently launched its "Private Doctor" subscription-based service, which packages the above offerings with online consultations, assisted hospital visits and discounts on other services. The live online medical consultations are provided by qualified doctors, each of whom currently services about 3,000 patients. The company is seeking to use its AI engine and data analytics to increase the number of patients per doctor to 10,000.
By connecting with hospitals in Southeast Asia, the platform will be able to extend its services to existing Chinese customers who travel to the region for medical treatment. It is an economical way to tap into the region's numerous international-standard hospitals, many of which are more affordable than their Chinese counterparts.
Ping An Good Doctor's real growth opportunity, however, comes from Southeast Asians whose needs are not being met by local private or public healthcare. Not only can the platform provide more convenient access to quality medical support, the distributed healthcare system is ideally suited to people living in more remote or rural areas.
It also has the potential to significantly increase medical access to those living in archipelagic nations, such as Indonesia and the Philippines. Furthermore, the platform has developed specialist services, including the growing demand for elder medical care, in countries such as Thailand and Vietnam.
Healthtech companies such as Ping An Good Doctor provide imaginative solutions to many of the challenges Southeast Asian nations face in providing access to quality healthcare. It will be interesting to see whether such platforms can truly revolutionise how we choose to consult a medical professional and harness the power of smartphones and wearables to make virtual medicine a regional reality.
Suwatchai Songwanich is an executive vice-president with Bangkok Bank. For more columns in this series please visit www.bangkokbank.com