I Used Oladoc App to Find a Doctor and Here are My Thoughts

Last week I caught a cold, thanks to the abrupt changes in weather, thanks to climate change and smog. Being sick and that too when you are away from home is not the best experience to have. I spent an entire day snuggled in my bed at my lonely apartment while severely coughing and sneezing. That day I really missed the comfort of my home city (Multan) where our family has a designated doctor. Like most Desi families we completely trust him for any medical issues that we encounter.

So far from home and in a new city (Lahore), I had no idea about where to find a credible doctor. Every friend that I talked to for the sake of suggestions about a medical practitioner gave me a new name. With so many suggestions with no actual proof for the suggested doctor’s credibility, my mind became even more conflicted and twirled in circles.

In my misery, I called another friend with hopes of some clarity and it finally came. This dear friend recommended using an app called oladoc and see for myself how this digital healthcare app had the solution to all my problems. So, I went on to the app store and downloaded the app for free.

Here is a synopsis of my experience.

What is oladoc?

oladoc is a digital health startup, based out of Lahore. Their website/app lets users see and compare hundreds of doctors in their vicinity on the basis of charges, experience, customer feedback and availability. Alongside, they provide the facility of booking online appointments with their desired doctor. In other words, they’ve killed the need of standing in the queues or talking to Dr’s PAs.

The Installation

I have an android based phone so I went to the Google Play and it was very easy to find the app and it was actually the first suggestion that popped up when I typed in “oladoc”. The app was only a few megabytes and was ready to open in less than a minute. Also, note that the app is very much available at AppStore, in case you are an iPhone user.

The Interface

Once I opened the oladoc app, it was a pleasant surprise. The interface was very nice to look at. It did manage to have a pleasant impact on my “I am sick” mindset. The app sets the city according to the user’s phone location. Although, there is an option to change that at the very top of the interface. When you click on the button to change the city, a drop-down list appears. It shows the top eight cities for which oladoc’s services are operational. These cities include major urban hubs such as Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Multan. You can thus choose the city of your choice.

Just under the city setting, there is a search bar, It lets you search for doctors, hospitals, services, and specialties by simply typing in keywords. For example, if you know a famous doctor and want to book an appointment with him, you just have to type in his name. If he is present in the database (which is very wide I must add), his/her profile will pop up.

To further help the users, there are 18-20 popular medical categories displayed in the form of icons in oladoc and you can just click on one of them to see a list of doctors related to that specialty. Since I had a cold I clicked on the ENT specialist category and proceeded from there. Once you click on the category of your choice, the app has some very helpful filters such as availability and gender of the doctor.

These filters are very appropriate to navigate through the huge database of doctors without wasting much time. Once the filter is set, a list of doctors appears which not only shows the charges taken by the doctor but also years of experience and educational background of the doctor.

The Ease of Use

Booking an actual appointment on the app is super easy. Once you have exhausted the list of doctors from your filtered search. You just have to go to the profile of the doctor that you have finalized. At the bottom right of that profile you will find a shiny yellow button saying “Book Appointment”. It will show you the available time slots of that doctor and you can pick a time of your choice.

Once you pick a time and click on it, you will be prompted to a registration page which will ask for your mobile phone number. Once you enter your phone number, you will receive a confirmation code and entering of that code will generate your appointment with the desired doctor.

As you might have guessed, I was also able to book my appointment in just a matter of minutes. I also got a reminder half an hour before my appointment and I did visit the doctor. It was the first time I got done in twenty minutes, without waiting. I also got a call post my appointment and a very decent operator recorded my feedback.

 

A Final Word

All in all, my experience with the oladoc app was great. I did wonder about the fact if such great service was accessible to people who did not have smartphones. I later found out that it was indeed possible and the company maintains a fully functional call center.

The number for the call center was also available on the app in the form of a yellow button which said “Helpline”. This button can be very helpful in case the app is ever down or you have difficulty in using the interface which I highly doubt. As an ending note, I would highly recommend using oladoc for your doctor’s appointments, especially if you are a lazy skeptic like me.

To know more, check about Oladoc here

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