Dr Room enables patients to connect with healthcare providers, pharmacies and language interpreters, including for sign language.

We often read about start-ups with various emerging companies described as new or exclusive in ideas, only for them to fall by the wayside after a few half-hearted attempts to get the business venture going.

Simona Maria Pagano, a biomedical scientist at Mater Dei Hospital, does not intend to join that unwanted list, especially given the encouraging first feedback she received after introducing Dr Room, a mobile app assisting patients who are unable to visit a doctor in person or receive a GP at home.

“Dr Room puts healthcare in one’s hand,” said the app’s Italian mentors who are creating a new economy using Malta as a business bridge and exporting the Made-in-Malta label around the world.

The purpose of this app, conceived by Italians and produced by a group of IT specialists in Malta, is to improve and facilitate the relationship between doctors and patients.

“This does not mean that patients never have to go physically to a doctor again,” Pagano explained.

“With the use of Dr Room, physical visits are reduced but not eliminated. The research and development of the app systems is ongoing and constantly updated, giving a better and faster experience to both the healthcare professionals and their clients.”

Pagano, the CEO of Dr Room, researched what patients look for in the healthcare industry before finalising her project.

The app was developed through the assistance of her business partner Oliver La Rosa, the Richmoore & Anderson group of companies CEO who she met at the Malta Business Club, organised by the Maltese Italian Chamber of Commerce and QuiMalta.it.

“The main aim of Dr Room is to promote a new model of healthcare delivery that can meet the emerging needs within the new generation of customers and healthcare providers,” Pagano said.

The integrated video-visit and translation services are what set our app apart from the competition. Also, sign language interpreters will be available

“The app is designed to be very user-friendly. It connects the healthcare providers, pharmacies and language interpreters who work together to guarantee the most fluent and easily accessible medical service possible.”

Dr Room offers three innovative services: online booking for medical consulting, possibility of video-visits from home and, when needed, a link between patients and doctors through a translator or sign language interpreter.

The app will be distributed all over Europe, interconnecting the European healthcare system, giving clients the possibility to do a consultation with any doctor from any country remotely.

Competition on the international market is fierce though with similar apps already available in Europe and the US. But Dr Room’s creators are hopeful as their app is offering something extra.

“We know there are other apps abroad that provide online booking for medical consultations,” Pagano said.

“However, the integrated video-visit and translation services are what set our app apart from the competition. Also, sign language interpreters will be available, making Dr Room accessible for those with a hearing impairment. This was made possible thanks to the contribution of Ivana Legname, a sign language interpreter, as well as another partner in the project.”

Richmoore & Anderson is an established group that offers IT support and software development from offices in seven countries. La Rosa considers the business venture with Pagano as a fruitful merger.

“Our company had already developed a booking system for hospitals so we decided to join forces, merging Simona’s new ideas and her extensive health knowledge with our competency in development,” La Rosa said.

“My business partner, Moreno Zucchetti, was active in selling hardware and software solutions for the medical sector in north Italy for 10 years and adds his experience of hospital and patient management to the project as well.

“The joint venture was a logical step after we met and the Dr Room project was born.”

App users, both patients and health professionals, can register free of charge. The app offers a variety of licensed healthcare providers each with a profile showing available locations for visits, availability for appointments or video visits and spoken languages.

The patient can filter by different criteria and also request a translator when needed. When booked for an appointment, the patient will receive a reminder 24 hours before the appointment. Prescriptions can be sent directly to the pharmacy of the clients’ choice. The service will be prepaid online with credit cards or PayPal through the app.