Dr. Kev Lim is the founder and CEO of QueueMed Healthtech. The health technology company provides digital health solutions to healthcare providers and helps them to embrace digital health transformation. It has been in operation for three years now.
Specifically, his company offers healthcare providers with a system for appointments and mobile queue solutions to make operations in clinical practice more efficient. They also provide virtual solutions for doctors to engage in teleconsultation and medication of prescription. Of late, they have also begun a teleradiology service.
How It All Began for Dr. Kev Lim
Having completed his HO training, Dr Lim went to Bintulu Sarawak for his MO training and joined the pediatrics department there. He was then posted to the Sg Buloh Hospital for another two years for further pediatric training. He was planning to specialize in children’s intensive care and was about to get into the Masters program when life handed him a twist.
His newborn daughter experienced some medical complications. Both he and his wife are medical doctors, with his wife already enrolled in the Master’s program. So they arrived at an agreement that he would give up his medical career to pursue something more flexible such as locum services. This was done to facilitate his daughter’s appointments at the various government hospitals.
It was here that he got a glimpse of what patients experienced when they came for their appointments at government hospitals! It was an eye opening experience for him. Although his daughter is completely well now, his experience at the waiting rooms of government hospitals handed him with a new calling in life!
Recognizing Pain Points: Its Importance in Health Technology
Invariably, Dr. Lim recognized that the doctors’ appointments took longer than expected and he would often miss his locum slot for the day. Even if the doctor’s appointment was at 9am, it usually only ended at 3 or 4pm. The waiting time was just too long. Clearly, the patients’ experience was very poor in hospitals and patients were frustrated with the waiting time.
Additionally, patients had to watch the monitor closely for their turn. They were unable to dash out and run an errand in case they missed their turn. That would have required a re-do of the queuing process all over again. A couple of pain points emerged in Dr. Lim’s mind and he knew he wanted to solve these problems. A pain point is a persistent or recurring problem with a product or service.
Together with his Co-Founder Dr. Tai Tzyy Jiun, they decided to do something about the problems faced by patients at hospitals. That was back in 2018 when they started their QueueMed Healthtech. The company’s initial focus was solving the problem of long queues in hospitals.
Soon they received good feedback for their online appointment system and their mobile queue solutions for clinics and hospitals. “An extensive onboarding process is involved in getting GP clinics and hospitals to adopt digital solutions,” noted Dr. Lim. The doctors who adopted these digital solutions requested even more digital solutions. That’s how QueueMed Healthtech went on to create more modules and experience growth.
How Covid19 Expedited the Adoption of Digital Solutions in Public Healthcare
Despite several attempts, getting the government healthcare sector to adopt digital solutions was not easy until Covid19 hit the globe. The MOH quickly contacted Dr. Lim for urgent digital solutions for their Klinik Kesihatan (KK/ Health Clinics). This was in view of the need for social distancing at their medical facilities which are the busiest in the country.
Initially, the project ran in four KKs in Selangor and was immensely successful. The solution was then recommended across all KKs in Selangor and later introduced to other states. Now, before patients go to the KKs, they have to book an appointment online and show up at the stated time. The result is that patients’ time is not wasted, the waiting room is no longer congested, and there appears to be more control for both the healthcare providers and the patients.
There’s more interesting information from Dr. Kev Lim on Thursday, so stay tuned…
