Her father’s death from negligence led this woman entrepreneur to start a reliable health review platform

Losing a near and dear one is one of the most challenging circumstances in life. Shabnum Khan lost her father last year within hours of admitting him to a hospital. She claims negligence for his quick death and says the hospital was not forthcoming about information of his illness. She had a hard time coming to terms with his demise. 

“I kept questioning myself over and over, again and again - why? And, the answers were rather disturbing. My struggle in those moments of confusion to find a supportive hospital management with best facilities and patient care, transparency in reports and a proactive approach led to the sowing of the seed – that I call 750AD Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.,” Shabnum tells HerStory. 

Stemming from her own experience of not finding the right information about healthcare facilities, Shabnum founded her second entrepreneurial venture, 750ad Healthcare, a one-stop platform for information and reviews about healthcare, health and wellness topics, and sale of medical products. 

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Starting up 

Shabnum worked with international PR firms before starting her own venture, Mandrake Mydia in 2018. 

Losing her father in 2019 served as a trigger point to start 750AD Healthcare in August 2019 in New Delhi. 

“I believe, in our pursuit to achieve success we must always focus on serving those who are neglected and do not share the same privileges as us,” says Shabnum.

Her struggles in the hospital to find out what was wrong with her father, led her to realise the need for a platform that provided authentic information and helped the masses in choosing the right service and a portal where they could buy medicines at affordable prices.

With these aims in mind, she developed 750AD Healthcare, a review platform and a market aggregator that boosts the businesses of chemists, small and medium scale businesses and other healthcare businesses across the country to promote the ‘vocal for local’ mission.

Even though the company was registered in August 2019, the platform started operations only in March 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic and the nationwide lockdown. 

It first launched the healthcare review platform and a print and digital magazine, Transformative, which provides authentic information about research in the medical science and other medical information. Its sales platform for medical essentials will be launched next month. 

Launching during the pandemic 

Shabnum realised the pandemic and the lockdown increased the need for a platform that would provide reliable information about hospitals. She also wanted to extend her support to the healthcare sector and launched campaigns like #Thankyoudonate and awareness on safe disposal of expired medicines, among others.

However, launching during the lockdown came with its unique challenges. The major one, Shabnum says, was the lack of resources due to the lockdown. Whether it was working with vendors or clients, the team adapted to the new working conditions and made all decisions over video calls. It was difficult for them to conduct surveys, have an official launch event or other promotional activities that involved stepping outside their homes. 

However, Shabnum believes the positive aspect was that due to the lockdown, there was more traction online. This helped gain users on the website and engage with their audience socially. 

Since the launch three months ago, the platform has attracted over 10,000 users. Shabnum believes the numbers will increase manifold post the launch of the sales platform. 

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The way ahead

The bootstrapped startup hopes to continue to play its part in the fight against COVID-19 with a year-long campaign, ‘Hustle against Covid’. The campaign spreads awareness on essential healthcare plans and policies that organisations, SMEs, schools and colleges, institutional bodies and others must formulate to enable a stronger and healthier approach towards fighting the coronavirus or any such pandemic that may occur in future. 

“I hope such harsh times never return. But having a strong policy is very important now more than ever,” says Shabnum. 

Shabnum envisions 750AD Healthcare to be a breakthrough for the healthcare industry as it educates, spreads awareness and aids the masses in uplifting the quality of life by guiding them to choose the most genuine, affordable and life changing experiences in the healthcare sector along with supporting SMEs across the country. To help her vision, she hopes to expand the reach of the platform to all states across the country.