Svast: Global Healthcare Services at Your Fingertips

Kunnummal Biju, CEO & Lata Hariharan, President

In Iraq, a mother of three was facing a deep dilemma. Her husband had been diagnosed with cancer and she was not confident that the hospitals in Iraq could treat her husband’s condition. She had found that India offered excellent medical treatment options. But travelling to a foreign country, navigating the bureaucracy of the hospital and treatment solutions was just scary. Her dilemma was compounded by the thought of having to leave her kids behind, while he was being treated. Fortunately, Svast was there to help. They arranged everything from airport transport, hospital visits, accommodation and translators, to finding them the food of their choice. Svast ensured she had a trusted source by her side to help understand and navigate the treatment journey with confidence. They enabled her to bring her kids along so the family could be united during this critical time. Fighting a difficult disease can be a long and arduous journey. You should not have to do it alone.

People struggling to meet healthcare costs must often deal with long waiting lists and inadequate healthcare facilities in their own countries. For these reasons, medical tourism has become a popular alternative so that patients can receive higher quality of care.

Unlike general tourism, medical tourists cross borders to foreign lands for the sole purpose of obtaining medical services. But the pain point lies in finding the doctors and hospitals ideal for their specific conditions.

Svast, a health exchange platform company, provides global, personalized healthcare, by providing cost-effective, curated options of medical treatment, and delivering healthcare solutions to those in need.

The medical travel industry is a $90 billion fragmented and unstructured industry faced with numerous complexities.

The patient has to send a request to the customer care executive through the company’s digital platform, and their needs are met

This includes searching for care, finding the right provider, getting comparisons, checking the capabilities of the providers, scheduling the appointment, traveling to the point of care, arranging payment, finding translators, lodging and food during the treatment period and receiving post care. Svast is the first company to tackle the entire problem while also providing concierge level experience at a global scale using technology with a human touch.

Svast, the brainchild of co-founders Kunnummal Biju and Lata Hariharan, was created after dealing with the complexities they faced in finding doctors in their personal lives. They realized that if a patient wished to see a specialized doctor, they would have to spend several months researching the best available options. Patients would often need to visit several hospitals to gather the basic information related to their care, without any detailed insight into which facility was best for their care.

"Our application provides end to end service with a human touch" quotes Lata, the President of Svast. The company's onboarding process starts with a personal consultation that involves gathering basic information on the patient’s needs. Subsequently, the patient is provided with a list of available hospitals and the costs involved for each option.

Once the patient chooses the option that is right for them, Svast coordinates all the necessary arrangements from airport transfers, translation services and special food requirements to the daily medical support required in meeting the needs of patients. "The patient just has to send a request to the customer care executive through the company's digital platform, and their needs are met," quotes Kunnummal, CEO, Svast.

The company's interactive digital platform enables patients to receive second opinions from specialists all over the globe, giving patients the confidence and comfort they need, to make the decision that is right for them. Svast’s ability to streamline the healthcare management system is a great win for patients who are underserved or not served at all.

Svast is currently operating in a closed system and plans to roll out their full-fledged software early next year. The company has been researching this field for quite some time and feel confident that they can provide their customers with the best services at a global level. Svast’s plans aren’t just limited to medical tourism, they are also actively collecting data to develop improved insights for patients. The digital platform utilizes Artificial Intelligence for global searching, matching, predicting and fulfilling care.

Svast’s mission is to provide customers with an end-to-end solution for their healthcare needs, ultimately providing unbiased information and access to the top healthcare providers around the globe. We can’t wait to see how it will continue to bring advancements to the world of medicine.