YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. A doctor appointment app launched in Armenia is helping patients manage and schedule their appointments with the doctors, offering flexibility, convenience, and transparency for both the medics and patients.

The app called Doctor Yan is already used by around 600 doctors and 10,000 registered patient-users, according to Doctor Yan co-founder Irina Ghazaryan.

Speaking to ARMENPRESS, Ghazaryan said that she is an architect by profession, but growing up in a family of doctors has led her to learn about the doctor-patient relations. At one point in her career Ghazaryan also worked in UI/UX design, which then helped her in advancing her idea of launching Doctor Yan.

“Doctors are getting endless phone calls at various hours during the day, and patients are mostly asking for appointments or some fast-tracked visits. To solve this issue I came up with the idea to create an app that would be useful for both doctors and patients. On one hand patients will be able to visit their doctor without a phone call or an acquaintance, and on the other hand the work of the doctors will be a lot easier without the endless phone calls and queues,” Ghazaryan told ARMENPRESS.

Doctor Yan is currently available in Armenian, English and Russian.

Doctors who want to join the app simply download it and register. “The app is free for patient-users. Doctors can use the app for free for some time, but then they can pay for the monthly or yearly packages which would allow them to activate additional functions,” Ghazaryan said.

Patients simply have to choose a doctor by their profession in the app and select an available day and time for appointment. Opinions and reviews about the doctors by patient-users are also meant to help patients in choosing a doctor.

Ghazaryan said they’ve made over 2500 appointments so far and have more than 1000 verified reviews.

Many foreigners who’ve recently moved to Armenia are also using Doctor Yan, she added.

“There are similar apps in Europe and the US, but they are built on the convenience of patient-users. Our option is convenient for both patient-users and the doctors. For example, doctors must garner 200 credits in five years to be able to continue their professional work. They must constantly participate in various accreditation events to garner the credits. We have that section in the app where the doctors can see and get notified about the events,” Ghazaryan said.

Doctor Yan participated in the Armenia Startup Academy program, won a 10,000 euro grant from GIZ and attracted funding from the FAST angels network. Furthermore, Doctor Yan won the Idea to Business TV project and won a grant from the Ministry of High Tech Industry.

“We are generating some income on our own, the grants help in adding new functions in the app and keeping the team. We are also expanding the circle of cooperation. We try to partner up with insurance and pharmaceutical companies and other actors in the area. We will gradually add new instruments that would make the daily life of doctors and patient-users a lot easier,” Ghazaryan said.

Karine Terteryan