A family misdiagnosis made me leave IIT placement and move back to Bihar to build for rural healthcare
I'm from East Champaran, Bihar. Did my undergrad at IIT Patna.
A close family member had a lung condition that went undetected through multiple rounds of routine care. By the time it was caught, it had progressed significantly.
That was the trigger.
I started looking at the numbers:
• 1 doctor for every 11,000 people in rural India • 60% of cancers diagnosed in advanced stages • 70% of primary care decisions need specialist input that never arrives • 3+ months average wait for a specialist in rural areas
It wasn't a shortage of knowledge. It was a system design problem.
I started working on what became SaathiMed — a clinical intelligence platform that works offline, supports voice in Hindi/Bhojpuri, and helps doctors expand their differential diagnosis without replacing their judgment.
One piece we're building is a "30-second specialist bridge" — connecting a rural doctor to specialist input in minutes instead of months.
Still early. Still building. But I know one thing — building for Bharat teaches you more than any MBA ever could.
Anyone else here building for rural India or tier-2/3 markets? What made you start?