Innovation is the driving force of any knowledge-driven country. Startups depend on these ideas, which can bring a positive change in the society. Similarly, healthcare startups are playing a crucial role in improving the ecosystem of Pakistan.
Among these startups, “Marham – find a doctor” has shown promising growth, by providing a helpful platform for the people through marham.pk.
Marham has played a big role in improving the healthcare system not by only promoting medical tourism in Pakistan, but also made Pakistani doctors proud all around the world by building online presence of qualified doctors, and by establishing an online community to ask questions from qualified doctors or get second opinions.
Here’s an example of judging just how well Marham is doing.
The Problem
Brig. Dr. Ajmal Rashid explained the patient was in a very serious condition of psoriasis. The patient posted his query on Marham group last month in April.
He was getting checked by a general physician in UK, but his disease was spreading on all over his body. He was unable to move properly, because every movement was painful.
The Reason
Brig. Dr. Rashid further explained that patient’s condition was getting worse day by day, he had booked the appointment for a dermatologist, but it was due after 3 months.
The patient tried to consult a dermatologist urgently, but his general physician did not consider the patient’s condition an emergency. The pain was getting out of hand, and patient needed assistance.
Marham Involvement
The response on Brig. Dr. Ajmal Rashid’s post was phenomenal. The patient was flown in, got checked on the same day, and was diagnosed with a serious life-threatening condition called Psoriatic Erythroderma.
The Diagnosis
The physical condition of the patient was critical, his entire body was covered with a rash and his skin was peeling off. The sight itself was so painful that it was unfathomable to experience what the patient was going through. The patient was unable to perform even a simple task and was sensitive to touch.
The Solution
The patient’s aggravated medical condition was due to the ineffective treatment of the doctors. The treatment was started right away without any delay, and it showed effective results. In 2 week, the patient showed visible improvements. His skin started to clear, he was able to do simple tasks, the pain started to wear off, and he was out of the life-threatening condition.
These images perfectly represent the calamity of the situation. Any person would consider it an alarming situation, even without a medical degree.
Anyone can get an idea of the seriousness of the disease and the pain the patient must be experiencing by just looking at these images. The third image shows the gradual improvement, which was after the treatment.
Building doctors’ online presence and a community of help and medical knowledge were not a piece of cake. It took all of our energies to educating people about how this is a beneficial idea. Initially, no one believed this could work or can save someone’s life. But, when things started rolling, everyone was surprised how helpful and complete this new health ecosystem is. – Asma Salman – Co-Founder Marham
The post by Brig. Dr. Ajmal Rashid got a lot of traction. People from Pakistan and all around the world responded to the story. Following are some highlighted comments of these people;
People from outside of Pakistan wholeheartedly participated in the conversation, and praised the competence and the credibility of the doctors of our country. It is a proud moment for Marham and will inspire them to keep helping everyone, and provide a global platform to help patients all around the world.
Here is the journey of Team Marham:
youi are comparing a Dermatologist ( 9 years of medical school) vs A GP (5 years of medical school..)
ofcourse he was going to recover ..psoriasis is lifelong disease and its relapse will occur later…so he isn’t healed ….marham role is insignificant…
kidney trasplant in UK take 5-6 years for a patient (legally) while here pt can have a kidney transplant within 1 month (illegally) ..but outcome after transplant will be better in UK as compared to our system…
Bas hum Pakistan ki tareef nahi sun sakte.
It isn’t about being a GP or a specialist. It is about alleviating the agony from which the patient was suffering from and was clearly affecting his routine. That dermatologist failed to do so. Kill the pain, or pain kills the patient. Then you go ahead to treat the underlying disease. This is what we are taught in medical school, aren’t we not? Next appointment after 3 months? Dear God.
You are right, the long waiting systerm in NHS results in agony and more severe illness and in some diseases if you don’t get timely treatment they spread out. So doesn’t mater in which country you are being treated, what matter is that you are getting timely treatment and your illness is getting cured.
Good work team marham.. best wishes for them :) specially to Ehsan
Nice & Amazing Service that “Ask Question” & i asked a Question & received positive response nice.
Conflicting and controversial views are there, but in UK it is impossible to get to consultant where as our consultant work as GPs.
Well I am British Citizen living in uk for quite a long now, but i really am disappointed in the long waiting system in NHS, you are only seen by GP which have no idea of serious diseases and to see a specialist or dermatologist there is a long waiting of 4-5 months. Some diseases are so Critical if left untreated for long time they get worst and life threatening. So next time if I have to get cure instead of waiting for months for NHS treatment i will consider myself going to Pakistan and getting timely treatment there.
All of you should burst your bubble that first world countries are effeicient in medical system, it’s only when you get timely treatment instead of waiting for months and getting more sick in a meanwhile