Story of Dr. Pratap Chauhan who is bringing Ayurveda in the digital age

Unlike southern India which has a large variety of herbs and skills to create ayurvedic medicines, in Northern India this lack of availability is covered by the entrepreneurial skills. There are various platforms that offer free consultation services, reaching and helping out people who live in villages or have a lack of medical facilities. For example, Jiva Ayurveda, founded by Dr. Pratap Chauhan, who is offering a unique platform for telephonic consultation, the center is staffed with 150 doctors. These facilities are available for everyone but the special focus is on the thousands of people living in remote areas and villages all over India. He also owns a medical manufacturing plant in Haryana. There are various other platforms like Healthdrop which offer similar services. 

Jiva majorly operated from his office in Faridabad, near Delhi. Whenever he is not in the office, either he is traveling to teach Ayurveda or taking seminars all over the world. Last year, he visited Poland, France, and Japan for his session on the importance of Ayurveda medicines. 

He started his practice from a small clinic in his garage. Though he did not have many resources to work on. He completed his graduation of Ayurveda Medicine from Delhi University. But he was unsatisfied with his level of learning and decided to find a teacher where he can learn and practice more. During his studies, he recognized that earlier India is a foundation of Ayurvedic medicines and is now getting acceptance in the west. Most of the credit goes to, Deepak Chopra, an Indian-born US doctor, changing the view of people how they look at Ayurveda. Various books have also published by US authors. This clearly shows that there is an equal demand for Ayurveda in the International Market.

Chauhan’s foray of speaking and teaching takes him to another level of spreading knowledge about Ayurveda. With the help of his brother, who is spiritually driven and living in an ashram in Vrindavan, Chauhan was able to put his foothold in ISKCON Temple where he gives free lectures on Ayurveda. 

And the trips to abroad gives his life a new direction. He was exposed to digital technologies and the use of the internet then decided to create its own website. It was the world’s first Ayurveda website built-in 1995 when the revolution of the internet has just been started. This website offers a consultation program for people worldwide. Not only he was expanding his business outside India but also promoting Indian heritage all over the world. After his foreign push, Jiva’s heritage started to grow. 

After such levels of achievement, the person feels really confident and looks forward to his ambitious idea. That is what happened with Chauhan too!

At the early stages of the new millennium, when mobile phones became popular. Chauhan took advantage of it and started thinking of ways to harness its mobile platform to expand the customer base, mainly in rural areas. A Jiva representative will collect information from the patient which will be transferred to the central office where the doctor accesses the information and provide specific prescriptions and medication to be done. This project was a huge success. However, Chauhan faced various difficulties in order to raise funds for expansion. Besides all these, in 2006, he was rewarded with the United Nations World Summit Award for the low-cost, highly effective, and broadly accessible networking solution.

In order to increase the caller on his website, he started a TV show channel in 2006. The aim was to reach every household in India and increase mobile penetration. His story is fascinating. Isn’t it?

But here the question arises does the online medication actually works? 

Doctors sitting with headphones in their cubicles in a single office. Maybe it can work but maybe not!! Jiva’s doctor asked detailed questions and go through a thorough analysis before writing any prescription. They also offered the video call opportunity if the patient wants. Looking after the Jiva’s success we can expect such platforms to grow in days ahead. 

When India is shifting towards digitalization, services like this provides a perfect platform for the people who cannot visit the clinic. Digitalization has played a major role in the science sector. Now, it is helping Ayurveda to expand its presence. 

We can take a recent example of Patanjali – it offers Ayurvedic remedies for every problem using various online platforms in order to expand its reach!