PEAS Healthcare and patient education in India

While patients in the US are deluged with information, patients in India are usually starved for this. They have to depend upon US websites for information ( much of which is not applicable to Indian conditions and diseases); or upon their doctor ( who is often too busy to educate them !)

One of the major issues is that the importance of educating patients has still not become a pressing issue for doctors. Traditionally, Indian doctors have always been quite paternalistic; and most Indian patients are quite happy to follow the doctor's orders.

While it's true that times are changing, and that the younger generation of doctors is more willing to be open ad to invest time in discussing treatment options with their patients, another limitation has been the acute shortage of patient educational materials designed for India.

Another major issue has been the fact that there are so many regional languages in India - and many Indians are illiterate.

The good news is that this challenge is actually a great opportunity - and clever startups like PEAS India ( in which I am an angel investor) are now developing a library of patient educational DVDs , customised for India !