Female-centered healthcare startup gains traction in PHL

By Brontë H. Lacsamana, Reporter

ONLINE and offline care must go hand in hand to better serve women in the Philippines whose healthcare needs are unmet, especially given the post-pandemic rise in digitalization, according to Kindred, a female-centered healthcare technology (femtech) solutions provider.

Femtech, or technology-enabled health products and services such as teleconsultation sites and online platforms that address women’s medical needs, have been available worldwide for the past decade but only started gaining traction in the Philippines during the pandemic, said Maria Jessica J. de Mesa, co-founder and chief executive officer of Kindred, during an interview with BusinessWorld.

This delay has been attributed to a lack of funding and deeply held religious beliefs in the country, she noted.

“Because of poor patient experience, there’s no continuity for Filipino women who seek help with their health concerns,” she also said.

The majority of women in Southeast Asia have limited knowledge of menopause (54%) and fertility/infertility (51%), according to a survey conducted by Singapore-based consumer research firm Milieu Insight in 2022.

Filipino respondents specifically said that information on fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum health is not widely known, primarily due to the stigma surrounding reproductive health and the taboo nature of open discussion.

Consequently, online resources are the preferred choice, with 54% of women saying that they seek answers online. Health professionals ranked second (50%), followed by parents (36%), as indicated by the survey.

Recognizing the urgency to address this situation, Ms. De Mesa, a registered nurse with e-commerce experience, and medtech entrepreneur Abetina E. Valenzuela shared the sentiment and consequently co-founded Kindred.

Dubbed as the first hybrid women’s health clinic in the Philippines, Kindred officially launched its virtual clinic through its website in June 2022 and its physical clinic in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in December of the same year.

“When we met, we talked a lot about the future of women’s health,” said Ms. De Mesa. “It’s a very personal mission for us.”

Since the opening of the BGC clinic, Kindred has treated 8,000 patients and collaborated with 20 corporate partners, offering services to their employees.

In July, Kindred launched its app alongside the announcement of a second physical clinic being built in Quezon City. The company also secured $1 million in seed funding, resulting in a total valuation of $6 million since its inception in 2021.

Ms. De Mesa said that Kindred is currently working on partnerships with the United States Agency for International Development to promote contraceptive methods and with the Department of Health (DoH) on family planning.

An omnichannel approach, which bridges both online and offline, is the best way to seamlessly connect patients to doctors and to the right specialists, she added.

“Most patients come to us through our virtual clinic. But along the way, as we go through their care plan, we’re able to convert them offline to go to our physical hub, because we can’t do everything online.”

This addresses the common pain point for healthcare, which is poor continuity, with patients not coming back to complete treatment, according to Ms. De Mesa.

“With all these channels, we’re better able to complete the care cycle and really have that continuity,” she said.

ADVOCACY AND BUSINESSMs. De Mesa’s group has learned that building a business around a core mission and a deeply personal purpose has been instrumental in their journey.

This approach has positively impacted all other aspects of our work, she noted.

“Everything else on the business side follows. We’re trying to prove that those two things (advocacy and business) are not separate.”

One example is the inclusion of mental health services on their website and in their clinic, which proved to be a viable offering that attracted numerous customers and was essential to their mission of improving women’s healthcare.

“Although we’ve been focusing on reproductive health, we’ve realized that we need to always have a holistic approach. We can look at the woman in isolated body parts, but we need to look at the woman as a whole,” Ms. De Mesa said.

Now, Kindred has a lineup of licensed and board-certified experts in various fields such as gynecology, dermatology, gastroenterology, mental health, and fitness.

Looking ahead, Kindred plans to form affiliations with hospitals, clinics, laboratories, doctors’ societies and associations, government agencies, and nonprofits, aiming to make a more significant impact on Philippine healthcare.

DATA AND REGULATIONBecause the company operates in the healthcare space, pushing out new services cannot be done out of nowhere.

“We do focus group discussions and customer surveys, so that we know what they need, validate assumptions, and cater to their demands,”  said Ms. De Mesa.

“We’re not afraid of experimenting, but because healthcare is highly regulated, because we’re dealing with people’s lives, we’re not a typical startup that can just break stuff or disrupt things.”

Opening a physical clinic, for example, was crucial for the company to qualify for HMO (health maintenance organization) insurance packages, according to Ms. De Mesa. This decision proved to be an important step for the group.

Expanding Kindred’s offline presence was also necessary because the sole clinic in BGC was insufficient to meet the demands of women in Metro Manila, she noted.

As a result, the upcoming Quezon City clinic will be the first of many in the pipeline, illustrating how business owners should not hesitate to “try things and take the leap,” according to Ms. De Mesa.

Additionally, another survey found that birth control pills are not solely sought after for preventing unwanted pregnancies. In the Philippines, contraceptives are commonly used to manage chronic conditions such as highly irregular periods, which is a symptom of polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS, according to the Health department.

With these findings, Kindred can adapt and enhance its services to cater to the markets it can still serve, Ms. De Mesa said.

“One of our main challenges is like, how do we make sure we’re still serving our patients’ needs, while keeping that core of the business, which is reproductive health and women’s health?”

“We have to make sure we’re winning in all the categories at the same time. There are so many underserved segments of women’s health that we want to solve, so we try to take it step by step,” she added.