The Government of India (GoI), during the past 8 years, has been encouraging and supporting start-ups with various schemes, for the purpose of wealth creation, improving economic growth, and employment. There is also a growing support system in India, in the private sector, for funding, mentorship, and techno-commercial support for telemedicine-enabled start-up projects. In practice however, there are many critical decisions that need to be taken and pitfalls to be avoided, for start-ups to achieve success, as envisaged by the GoI. Objective: This paper shares the challenges encountered so as to help upcoming healthcare start-up’s navigate this route skilfully, avoiding pitfalls. Results: The results of 4 years of work (Jan 2016 to Mar 2020) and the present status are discussed and the learnings drawn from the AmbuPod Project (on-going) summarized. Conclusion: Telemedicine supported Rural Healthcare Start-Up projects have a good business potential in India, provided challenges are planned for, addressed, and resolved.
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