Estonian startup Medihub, which opened last week Northern Europe’s healthcare portal, said on Thursday it has seen strong early interest from as far as the United States and Britain.
The healthcare portal allows patients from Estonia, Finland, Russia and other locations to search for clinics, compare the prices of services and book doctor’s appointments. Medihub is especially useful for dental services, plastic surgery or laser eye surgery, as these services are usually excluded from Health Insurance Fund benefits.
There are some sites where it is possible to compare prices, like laakarihinta.fi, but none of them covers the Nordic market. “Medihub will be the first to do so and also the first to offer the patient transportation/plane tickets, accommodation and insurance,” it said in a statement.
The company said the site has seen thousands of users in the first days.
“As some of the procedures in Finland and Sweden can be 2 to 8 times more expensive than in Estonia, Medihub will make a radical change to the entire healthcare market and patients will eventually be more mobile,” said Medihub’s CEO Helary Lainjärv.
“At the same time, it will also be beneficial for Finland and Sweden, as the patients from wealthier countries, such as the United Kingdom, will search for well-known Nordic quality when looking for procedures, thus they will most likely choose a clinic in Finland or Sweden,“ he said.
Medihub has been in development since early 2015 and launched last week in 6 countries: Estonia, Finland, Russia, Latvia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
