Acumen Fund

E-Health Consulting through Franchised Centers

A new patient is evaluated at Sehat First's Chashma Village Center clinic.

With nearly three-quarters of Pakistan's population living on $2 a day or less in rural areas, there is a strong need for access to affordable healthcare.
In geographically dispersed low-income communities, quality healthcare services are limited. Healthcare facilities are concentrated in urban areas. The few doctors and publicly funded health centers that exist are often non-functional due to shortages of quality staff and lack of funding.
There is a scarcity of physicians in Pakistan, with only 74 physicians per 100,000 people. The situation is compounded by factors such as a lack of quality specialists, delays in the administration of proper treatment and unavailability of appropriate medications.

Sehat First ('Health First') offers affordable basic healthcare and pharmaceutical services to low-income communities through franchised tele-health centers.
This franchised network of outlets is connected online to provide consulting services using web-based software, offering tele-consulting services via an e-sehat application that remotely links up patients with doctors and specialists.
With Acumen Fund's “patient” capital investment during its pilot phase, Sehat First has opened up three retail outlets in the semi-urban areas of Karachi.

Sehat First is the first significant attempt to establish a retail healthcare franchise to serve low-income communities in Pakistan.
Currently in its pilot phase, Sehat First has already established three self-sustaining centers that have served over 2,000 patients in the first year.
Sehat First aims to set up 200 health centers across Pakistan by 2012, providing affordable and accessible basic health services where there is a critical lack of physicians and healthcare facilities.