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Doc Round The Clock
Picture this. It's afternoon and
you're at the office when fever sets in. The family doctor's far away. A hospital seems
drastic. You're in the middle of an earth-shattering task but you're feeling so lousy,
it's slowing you down. What do you do? Get a doctor to your doorstep. Doctors At Doorstep
(DAD), a network recently set up in Delhi, hopes to help people in precisely such
situations. Set up by three young alumni of jipmer, Pondicherry -- Shomeshwar Singh, Ajit
Singh and Joy Bhagey -- it's being run as a pilot project in south Delhi right now with a
roster of 55 specialists for a start. "We're basically like yellow pages of
doctors," says Shomeshwar, 26, an ENT specialist. "The idea took root because we
realised that getting doctors to attend to house calls for routine problems at odd hours
is not easy." So if the baby's got a bout of colic at midnight when you're visiting
an aunt, dial 91-386738 and the guys at dad will send a local doctor over. The charges are
Rs 300-400 for a day call and Rs 700-800 past 10 p.m. on the understanding that the
visiting medic will pay a 20 per cent commission to the network. dad will do follow-up
calls and, as an add-on service, will give free reminders of routine tests, vaccinations
and innoculations. Also being planned: lab tests at your doorstep, even chemists at your
doorstep.
-Anna M.M. Vetticad
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