Attune Technologies, a next-generation healthcare IT company, sees that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) move to reject the Free Basics scheme, provides clearly a level playing ground to all which is a positive impact.
The Facebook's Free Basics Internet scheme was designed to offer restricted internet access free of cost to certain cellphone users dwelling in the cities. The TRAI noted that it violated its mission of ‘net neutrality’ and that internet should be accessed by all and hence blocked the Free Basics internet service app.
“Now this step does not favour any one entity. In fact it protects the startups and other new businesses. The negative aspect could possibly be impact on access to medical information and assistance for those living in areas that do not have internet connectivity or where affordability could be a problem. However, the government is already focused on taking internet to even the remotest areas of the country and work is underway, Ramakrishnan, co-founder & CEO Attune Technologies told Pharmabiz in an email.
The company which has pioneered cloud-based products designed to help the entire healthcare ecosystem recently received Series B funding of $10 million from Qualcomm Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners.
“We are not only looking at expanding in the international arena but also in the burgeoning Indian market. Our goal is to become the most preferred partner for healthcare organisations around the world and a global leader in the healthcare technology domain. We are currently focusing on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and South East Asia regions. We will also soon be present in the US and EU region too,” he added.
Since, we are amongst the early players in cloud technology for healthcare applications; we believe this has given us a competitive edge and the inherent first mover advantage. Apart from this, there are local competitors in each region, but no single direct competitor in the market, said Ramakrishnan.
India is a huge market in itself and Attune serves 4 of the 5 major players in the lab market namely Medall and Thyrocare besides several other leading hospitals. It is now expanding not just in India but globally too where its products are compliant to international standards. It also has customized services for specific markets available in local regional languages. Furthermore, its cloud-based solutions allow access from anywhere and anytime.
The demand for cloud based medical services is on the rise, and we offer a continuum of care. Attune services enable tracking patient’s health parameters and therefore allow timely action. While it also allows to mitigate the risk of human errors, it also significantly improves the turnaround time and maximises efficiency, stated Ramakrishnan.