Bangladesh's Leading Digital Healthcare Startup Maya Launches in Pakistan

Maya, Bangladesh's leading healthtech startup — currently the no #1 health app on Google Play Store — has launched in Pakistan today. Using the Maya app, users can chat with a doctor, take video consultations, get diagnostic support, buy health products, and do much more.

Today, Maya, a Bangladeshi-origin and Singapore-based digital healthcare company that provides mobile-based digital health services, announced that it has officially launched in Pakistan. 

The launch follows a USD 2.2 million fundraising round in February led by Anchorless Bangladesh and The Osiris Group. Maya already provides an all-in-one health solution through its more than 150 experts to over 10 million users in Bangladesh and claims to be the largest telehealth company in the country. 

Pakistan is the third market for Maya after Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The company is also eyeing to enter a few Middle Eastern countries and Southeast Asian markets.

Maya says all its services such as video consultation, medicine delivery, diagnostic supports, etc and features including connecting with a doctor through chatbot, video consultation with experts, BMI calculator, instant consultation through butterfly bot, period tracker, pregnancy week by week are now available to users in Pakistan. 

What you need to know: 

• Maya uses a mobile-based digital health service that leverages artificial intelligence and natural language programming to intelligently understand user questions and connect them directly to licensed and trusted experts ranging from doctors, clinicians, wellbeing experts to psychotherapists. 
• Users can ask their healthcare questions via text messages anonymously and get answers from trusted physicians and experts. 
• Maya also offers on-demand video consultations with experts, pharmacy delivery, diagnostic support, a one stop insurance support, and other healthcare services. 
• The company says it offers a holistic solution for all the healthcare needs and plans to partner up with the major pharmacies, diagnostic centers and hospitals in Pakistan.

What is interesting: Maya says it offers a unique telehealth solution and is going to be the only telemedicine provider in Pakistan that uses technologies like Natural Language Processing (NLP), and artificial intelligence (AI) to solve healthcare problems. The company’s service is expected to directly contribute to reducing the burden on the doctor-patient ratio in the country. 

The timing

Maya’s launch in Pakistan occurs timely. The coronavirus pandemic has stretched the best of the healthcare systems of the world. The pandemic has also increased the need for remote digital healthcare solutions. 

Pakistan is home to one of the world’s most digitally savvy and connected populations. The country has excellent smartphones and internet penetration. 

Like the health systems in every other country, the healthcare sector in Pakistan, both private and public, are burdened under the stress of massive demand and not enough supply. This offers an excellent opportunity to Maya to serve and help millions of people access affordable healthcare. 

Ivy Huq Russell, CEO & Founder of Maya says, “The health care system of Pakistan definitely needs support to lift up and Maya launching in Pakistan, as one of the biggest telehealth projects, is definitely something optimistic to look forward to. I am really excited about the prospects ”

Adeel H Chaudhry, GM, International Market, and Business sales, said "Maya’s primary goal is to allow users to access health care solutions from the palm of their hands. With this expansion, this solution can be accessed by a wider range of users from different regions of Pakistan"

Maya's trajectory and ambition  

Founded by Ivy Huq Russell, Maya originally started as a content-based women-focused platform in 2011. When we first covered Maya in 2012, it was a web platform with a stated vision “to empower women through access to information and a shared community”. 

Maya has gone through a series of evolution over the last couple of years. From a content and information-focused web platform, Maya has evolved into a digital healthcare platform that provides an anonymous messaging service where users can post their physical health, mental health, psychosocial and legal questions and get answers from trusted experts. You can get information and advice from Maya’s pool of on-demand experts through SMS and app, for their premium service it takes only a few minutes to get an answer. The company has also delved into telehealth, providing in-app on-demand video consultation, medicine delivery, and several other healthcare solutions.  

Digital healthcare has seen tremendous growth over the past few years across markets. 

Three forces are shaping the future of healthcare — smartphones, internet penetration, and growing trust in technology’s ability to offer quality solutions. 

This offers a unique opportunity for Maya as it aims to make healthcare accessible to a larger number of people across markets in Asia. Launching in Pakistan is likely to allow the company to get a deeper understanding of the regional healthcare ecosystem to curate an affordable and quality healthcare service. 

Update: 15 July 2021 at 10:00 am: The story has been updated with new information.