Dr.

Sara Saeed Khurram (CEO Sehat Kahani)

Submitted By:
Amina Tabassum
BSEE 2016-20
Roll No: 06
Assignment No: 01
Business Profile Study

Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences,

Islamabad
Entrepreneurship
1. Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram
The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Gender Equality Report released in December, 2018, demonstrated
Pakistan to be the second worst performer, just behind Yemen, in the Gender Equality Index, which tracks
disparities in four areas including education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
Female literacy rate in Pakistan remains low. However, interestingly, the field of medical education is an
exception. According to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC): Pakistan produces 170,000
doctors every year, interestingly nearly 50% (78,037) of this entire workforce of 160,000 consists
of female doctors. However, only 23% of female doctors ever register after graduation. They fall in
the hands of various socio- cultural barriers that makes it very prestigious of women in Pakistan to
obtain a medical degree but that same culture forbids or looks down upon fem ales to work after
marriages as for the majority of Pakistan the main role of a female is still in the house taking car e
of her husband and children tending to their every need. This shows that many of these female
doctors are never able to contribute to Pakistan’s critical medical needs because of cultural
constraints.
Access to quality health care in Pakistan is still a challenge. According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), one in three women in Pakistan don’t see a doctor during their pregnancy, while
one child in five does not get to see their fifth birthday. In a country of 200 million people, where
thousands of doctors qualify every year, there’s only one doctor for every 1,200 patients. According to
the WHO, the current nurse and midwife density in Pakistan is 5.7 for every 10,000 inhabitants.
Moreover, 50% of the population is unable to access primary healthcare and 46% of people live
more than ten kilometers from a rural health center.
Dr. Sara’ story resonates with the doctor brides! She is a graduate of one of the finest medical
universities in Pakistan, youngest of 3 children. Belongs to a traditional middle-class family where
girls are wed by the age of 23 and so she was too. After her marriage, she suffered from the same
“Doctor Bride” phenomenon. Inspired by the statistics and her current situation, Sara co-founded
a platform “DoctHERs” by which female doctors can be reintegrated back into the work force using
technology.
Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram, the first Pakistani woman on the list of laurates; Rolex award winner, is
the CEO of “Sehat Kahani” and was a co-founder of “DoctHERs”, an award winning health-tech
startup. Under her leadership Sehat Kahani has emerged as Pakistan’s largest telehealth company,
impacting thousands of lives through providing healthcare to Pakistan’s most rural communities.

Cofounded by a duo of 2 Female Doctorpreneurs; Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram and Dr. If fat Zafar Aga;
Sehat Kahani is a health tech social enterprise which engages a network of qualified female doctors
who were previously unable to work due to household activities utilizing digitization of healthcare.

Sehat Kahani has 2 distinct business verticals: The first entails E-Health Clinics based in marginalized
populations where Sehat Kahani’s e-health clinics are a one-stop shop for residents living in low-
income communities, offering nurse-assisted video consultations with a PMDC-certified online
doctor, a visiting sonographer and ultrasound facility, and a visiting diagnost ic service all under one
roof.
The 2nd vertical is a Health tech mobile application enabling access to online physicians for the
urbanized population utilizing smartphones. The application allows a patient to record their health
history, chat, or conduct an audio/video consultation with an available network of 1500 qualified
doctors. Clients can also obtain a prescription and are provided with at -home pharmacy delivery
and lab tests (through partner organizations) to make it more convenient for people who work hard
to support their families. Sehat Kahani has brought advanced solutions to tackle the problems of
healthcare industry of Pakistan and aims to achieve various sustainable development goals in the
process.
It’s not only solving the problems for patients and female -doctors but also contributing to the
economy in a great way by diversifying and creating more employment opportunities. With this fast
pace we can imagine that Sehat Kahani will impact more than 15million lives in the next five years!

While Dr. Saeed has also suffered from the Doctor Bride Phenomena in her life, she decided to turn
the tables over and became an inspiration for thousands of female doctors who give up on their
dreams under similar circumstances. Her story is not only about empowering herself but also about
empowering thousands of female doctors who are now able to pursue their dreams on this
platform!