There is a perfect doctor for every patient. However, it is unlikely that the ideal physician is in the same location as the patients that need them the most. While in Europe we usually have the chance to get appropriate medical treatment even if it is far away, things are very different in other parts of the globe. In developing countries, you are lucky if basic health care is guaranteed at all. My company, qunomedical, wants to make that possible.

We believe that the future of medicine is global. Through our platform, we want to make the right doctor available for every patient.

‍

In the future, no patient should be treated insufficiently.

‍

But those who think that we are simply providing aid to developing regions are only partially right. Difficult access to ideal medical care is a global issue and is not limited by geography or economics. I have experienced the world of medicine from many different perspectives: as a trained doctor and scientist, as a businesswoman, but also as an employee at an NGO in Cambodia. Ultimately,  I always wanted to help patients, and although the problems in parts of Southeast Asia seem to exist on a completely different scale, in the end, they are the same issues we face in Europe. As patients, we all need to know what happens in our bodies when we aren’t feeling well.

‍

Healthcare  systems are not designed to  provide the right answers.

‍

Instead, the sick are channeled through the value chain from the doctor, hospital or pharmaceutical industry to the insurance company. The key concern is human health, but none of the aforementioned parties thinks solely in terms of the patient’s best interest. Therefore, we decided that there must be a new player, a new category to represent this vacant perspective.

That is why we want to use digitization to make medical issues more visible, understandable, and, above all, more accessible by enabling patients to find the doctor ideally suited to their needs on our platform. A networking tool alone is obviously not sufficient, but numerous solutions can be created in combination with telemedicine, sensors, and other technological achievements, now and in the future.

I mean solutions that will no longer require a visit to the doctor. Structurally weak regions in rural areas, but also poorer countries in general, would no longer be left behind. We are talking about the democratization of medicine. Telemedicine, for example, makes it possible to get in touch with care centers cost-effectively and without the need for long travel. This is ideal for a patient in Ghana who may otherwise never have the chance to speak to the doctor he needs, because he could not afford the flight, might not be eligible for a visa, or would not even know that this doctor exists in the first place.

This is by no means a utopia. I have already seen that for myself. When I lived in the US, I had a dermatologist examine a skin injury using video communication. Our cellphone cameras are now so high-resolution that, in certain cases, remote diagnostics are feasible. However, one thing is clear: We will not be able to diagnose all forms of physical complaint from home. The idea that an AI can completely take over medical care is also not conducive to good health. The doctor-patient relationship, or rather the human-to-human relationship, will continue to be important. But is personal interaction always necessary? Definitely not!

In the future, typical medical check-ups will be a mixture of human contact, technologies, and algorithms. We will have a choice. In the past, there were only cars and bikes. Today we have bullet-trains, electric scooters, and car-sharing. This expansion  is the key to freedom, especially if you don’t have  to call 20 doctor’s offices before you get an appointment.

‍

Individualized medicine  is the future.

‍

Our healthcare system needs additional building blocks. We are not the only ones working on this; other innovative start-ups are also helping solve the problem. I firmly believe that this form of relief for patients and doctors must have a place in the world. At the same time, you have to gradually introduce the global market into the system. Otherwise, you will quickly be labeled as crazy or naive, here as well as in Cambodia.

‍