Read the Conversation
Meeting highlights:
- Sandeep’s Journey as a Health Entrepreneur: From NephroPlus dialysis centers to pioneering digital healthcare solutions that support physicians with real-time clinical decision-making platforms.
- HealthPlix’s Mission: Integrating data to drive better health outcomes through the adoption of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). This fundamental tool in healthcare is currently facilitating over 150,000 daily consultations and has a growing impact on India’s healthcare ecosystem.
- Creating Value Through Data: Unlocking patient data to improve outcomes, reduce medical errors, and enable research and new care models. "Indian patient data for Indian health" ensures that data-driven approaches cater to local needs.
- Scaling HealthPlix: Highlighting the critical role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) in healthcare and addressing the challenge of curating accurate data to support clinical decisions while minimizing errors and ensuring reliability.
- Investing in HealthTech: Digitalization and health tech offer transformative opportunities for broader healthcare access, earlier diagnoses, and efficient operations. Investments targeting India’s underserved and undertreated population aim to bridge care gaps through technology-driven solutions.
EF: How did the idea for HealthPlix come about, and what problem are you aiming to solve for India?
SG: I am a five-time entrepreneur, and this is my second healthcare firm—healthcare feels like my calling.
In 2009, I co-founded NephroPlus, a chain of dialysis centers, with Vikram and Kamal. Kamal, a dialysis patient himself, gave us an insider’s perspective on patient needs from the very beginning. This shaped our approach, providing us with a competitive edge. We were committed to doing what was best for our "guests."
By 2017, we scaled NephroPlus to India’s largest dialysis chain, treating 25% of renal patients in the country. We also expanded globally, becoming Asia’s largest dialysis provider and the 5th largest globally. Along the way, we turned potential acquisitions into opportunities—DaVita India, which initially tried to acquire us, ended up being acquired by us.
Our focus was always on patient-centered care. From day one, we tracked average hemoglobin levels as our primary metric, believing that prioritizing health outcomes would lead to success. By 2017, NephroPlus had matured, and I felt it was time for a new challenge. While I still hold equity, I exited operationally to focus on my next venture—HealthPlix.
The idea for HealthPlix emerged from witnessing medical errors that led to kidney failure. For example, one patient, a 74-year-old man, lost his limbs due to complications from an accident. His injuries led to kidney failure, a common scenario we encountered frequently. Of our patients, 67% developed kidney issues from poorly managed diabetes or hypertension.
HealthPlix started as a disease-agnostic, geography-agnostic platform to empower doctors with real-time clinical decision support systems. The goal was to prevent medical errors and improve clinical productivity, whether in-person or virtual.
However, when we launched, digital adoption among doctors in India was almost non-existent—only 0.01% used digital platforms. Without digital tools, there was no data, and without data, no clinical support system could function.
We pivoted and developed our own electronic medical records (EMR) software, which is now the foundation of HealthPlix. Today, HealthPlix is widely used by doctors across India, generating anonymized treatment data specific to Indian patients.
Currently, the platform facilitates approximately 150,000 consultations daily, creating a rich data trail. We leverage this data to provide actionable insights to individual doctors and the broader healthcare system.
EF: Given that data is increasingly regarded as a natural resource for India, what do you see as HealthPlix’s broader role in leveraging patient data to create additional value for the country?
SG: When we started, we did not aim to build a data trove or view data as "the new oil." Our focus was always on better health outcomes. However, given India's structure, we had to adapt. Initially, doctors and patients were unwilling to pay for EMR software or maintain longitudinal health records. This gradually changed, but at the time, it forced us to explore alternative revenue models.
Early discussions with pharma companies revealed a gap. They relied on Western data to assess drug effectiveness and make decisions but lacked localized insights. Doctors faced the same challenge, often working in the dark about what treatments worked best for Indian patients.
This realization shifted our approach. Instead of focusing on data monetization, we stayed true to our vision of better health outcomes, trusting that stakeholders like pharma companies and insurers would see the value in this data and be willing to pay for it. This led to organic partnerships with pharma.
After years of working with doctors and building a significant data set, we reached an inflection point. What began as a mission to improve patient care has now created meaningful collaboration opportunities across the healthcare ecosystem. To date, we’ve treated about 46 million unique patients and conducted 110 million consultations through 12,000 doctors across 370 cities.
At this scale, HealthPlix represents 5-10% of the Indian healthcare landscape. This level of representation carries significant clinical and commercial weight. People are now beginning to realize the value of this data and its potential to transform healthcare, a potential that has been building over the past decade and is finally coming to fruition.
EF: Where would you say HealthPlix stands in its growth journey? What resources are you looking to attract and develop to drive the next phase of growth?
SG: Our 46 million patient coverage is impressive, but only 4% of India. The real challenge is reaching the remaining 96%. Scaling to 40% in three to four years demands a truly disruptive solution.
We need to remove the barriers physicians face in using EMRs to improve patient outcomes. A significant step forward is the introduction of large language models (LLMs). We’ve developed our own medical-focused LLM, HALO.
Implementing LLMs in the Indian healthcare context is complex. General LLMs have global accuracy rates of 95%, but in the medical context, they drop to 85%. Adding Indian languages further reduces accuracy to 65%. Furthermore, India’s branded generic medicines with similar names create confusion, increasing the potential for errors.
Rather than building a foundational LLM, we are fine-tuning existing models using our data. Over the years, we’ve collected 100 million consultations, 60% of which are in vernacular languages. Doctors often mix English with regional languages like Hindi or Marathi, which provides valuable data to train and test these algorithms. If we can optimize LLMs for the Indian context, we can move from 4% to 40% within three to four years.
This transformation will address key healthcare issues, such as reducing errors. For instance, even at top hospitals, mistakes like incorrect discharge notes still occur. If we digitize for the right reasons, we will see disruption across outpatient care, inpatient care, emergency services, and operating theaters.
This shift will also impact the pharmaceutical industry. Pharma currently operates with a "lab-to-patient" mindset, but we advocate for a "patient-to-lab" approach. Real-time data flow can reshape how drugs are developed, marketed, and monitored for efficacy.
Clinical trials in India face skepticism and are often seen as exploitative or misunderstood. While government efforts to educate the public are crucial, the lack of digitized, mineable data is a major barrier. By creating a robust digital infrastructure, we can eliminate much of the opacity and mistrust surrounding clinical trials and make them more efficient and transparent.
At HealthPlix, we’re building the foundational infrastructure—the "plumbing" of India’s healthcare system. Once in place, stakeholders will have seamless access to data or doctors, all just an API away. This is the connected, efficient, and data-driven healthcare ecosystem we envision for the next three to four years, empowering participants to deliver better outcomes.
EF: Why does investing a dollar in health tech create more impact than investing it elsewhere?
Strategic investments in health tech are crucial, especially in the current scenario. We need to allocate a higher percentage of GDP to healthcare in order to address critical challenges effectively. For every dollar invested, the return could be ten times its value in national benefits. India’s young population is an advantage, but the rise in chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension poses serious future complications. Addressing these issues now will ensure a brighter future.
The Indian Domestic Pharmaceuticals Market, currently worth $25 billion, could double to $50 billion by addressing inefficiencies like delayed diagnoses. For example, 36% of diabetes patients with thyroid-like symptoms remain untreated for 150 days on average. EMRs like HealthPlix could prompt timely tests, improving diagnoses, outcomes, and trust.
For diagnostic and pharma firms, this represents a 36% market expansion, and tackling misdiagnosis across diseases could grow the market to $75 billion. This isn’t about incremental growth—it's about activating an underserved market. India's healthcare potential is immense, and the time to act is now.
Seven years ago, my pitch highlighted the large gap in digital investments between global and Indian pharma—54 global companies versus none in India.
Today, Indian pharma is catching up, and digital investments are now a necessity. As generics dominate and policies push for innovation, growth is shifting from price-driven to disruption-led, with players like Quick Commerce entering the pharmacy space.
Without local investments in R&D and digital health tech, pharma companies risk shrinking margins. India must follow the U.S. model, where 80% of revenue comes from innovation, unlike India’s current 99% reliance on generics. This transformation is essential for sustainable growth.
EF: India is known as the “Pharmacy of the World.” What new title or identity would you envision for the country in the future?
SG: India is firmly established as the pharmacy of the world, leading in APIs and generics; thus, the alternate identity could be “Pharmacy of the World, but on steroids.”
To progress further, however, the focus must shift to innovation. Oncology, for instance, is set to become as common as diabetes was a decade ago, and the goal should be to make cancer treatment as accessible as diabetes care.
India’s large patient base—ten times that of developed nations—offers a unique opportunity for data-driven research and R&D. This potential can position India as a global leader in healthcare innovation, spanning both pharmacy and digital health.
Achieving this transformation requires seeing EMRs and medical data as drivers of better health outcomes, not just tools for compliance. By embracing value-based healthcare and proving its effectiveness, India can lead the way, setting a global standard and showcasing what’s possible.
EF: Do you have a final message for our readers?
SG: Healthcare data must be seen as an investment, not a cost. Precision healthcare remains aspirational because data is undervalued and treated as an expense.
By recognizing its core impact, stakeholders—investors, providers, and policymakers—can drive transformative improvements. Investing in digital data capabilities isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about enabling a clinical revolution.
When used effectively, data delivers cascading benefits: enhanced patient outcomes, global productivity gains, and a stronger healthcare ecosystem. Now is the time to unlock its true potential.