“The development of Doctori app from ideation to implementation was the biggest learning experience for me in my healthcare journey.” – Ahmed Mahmood

When he established Doctori way back in 2018, Ahmed Mahmood, a Chemical Engineering alumnus at the University of Manchester, aimed to create a platform that would integrate next-generation technology and medical care to provide patients with fast and convenient online access to a doctor for appointments and consultations.

During that time, both of their grandfathers were receiving medical treatment abroad, and this served as an impetus for them to navigate and explore possibilities in the relatively new and challenging virtual frontier of medical aid delivery.

Ahmed Mahmood together with his co-founder Ahmed AlAwadhi, a qualified lawyer who later on took interest in healthcare technology,­­ personally devoted their time to bring the project to fruition, motivated by an inherent inclination towards the field of medicine, and inspired by the support of their families comprising of medical practitioners.

Strategic and analytical skills fostered by an engineering background proved useful along the way, and the only major setbacks that stalled product development were the prevailing telemedicine regulations at the time.

Bahrain ‘s health authorities have issued guidelines on the use of telehealth in Bahrain, and the provision of medical consultation by a licensed physician through means of communication such as telephone is forbidden except after obtaining a license from the NHRA in Bahrain.

Doctori’s users come from the GCC and beyond. However, the healthcare sector is highly regulated especially in the GCC, and to obtain (NHRA) license, Doctori must strictly comply with industry best practices in hosting, operating and delivering its services.

The Doctori app was launched according to the target date, coinciding with the outbreak of the COVID pandemic.

The birth of Doctori was timely. Amid a prevailing global health emergency, the app offered a solution that enabled ease of connectivity to medical services in real-time, along with convenient access to basic medical support such as video doctor consultations, electronic prescriptions, lab testing from home or in the clinic, medical reports, plus various healthcare services delivered in partnership with medical institutes, which altogether made it a one-stop shop app for healthcare needs.

Doctori’s patient-centric approach is the core feature of the app which sets it apart as a health care provider, and enabled it to reach out to a client base both locally and internationally.

The journey of Doctori app from ideation to implementation was the main source of experience for Ahmed in the field of healthcare; and his engineering background proved useful in dealing with the analytical and financial aspects of the business.

Ahmed said, “Way before the launch of Doctori, Tamkeen had always provided us generous support.  Various funding mechanisms also helped us in further developing the platform and growing it, until we expand our reach geographically into KSA and other neighboring GCC countries.”

In essence, the journey of Doctori is an inspiration to startups, and according to Ahmed, aspiring entrepreneurs must “Plan less, do more, and always believe in your vision.”