Ever wondered why your medical information doesn't seamlessly follow you from doctor to doctor? Suhina Singh's remarkable journey from practicing physician to healthcare tech innovator answers this question while revealing the critical missing link in modern healthcare.
Born into a medical family in South Africa, Suhina's path to founding Jonda Health was anything but straightforward. After studying medicine in Afrikaans (a language she barely knew), practicing in multiple countries, and even taking a detour into modelling, her most profound insights came from two painful experiences. When her brother-in-law was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, transferring his medical records between countries proved nearly impossible. Years later, she herself endured seven years of misdiagnosis despite having all the necessary data scattered across different providers.
These frustrations led to a revelation: healthcare's data problem isn't just inconvenient—it's dangerous. Suhina explains how medical information exists in countless incompatible formats, using a brilliant analogy of differently shaped and coloured objects that represent the same health information but can't communicate with each other. Her solution? Jonda Health's data transformation engine that acts like a universal adapter, making fragmented health data usable across systems.
The conversation offers rare insights into the messy reality of building a healthcare startup, from initial UI/UX challenges and development nightmares to the pivotal moment when Suhina realized her backend data engine was the true innovation, not the patient-facing app she initially focused on. Her candid reflections on bootstrapping, technical partnerships, and investor relations provide a masterclass in healthcare entrepreneurship.
For anyone passionate about healthcare innovation, patient empowerment, or entrepreneurship, this episode offers both inspiration and practical wisdom. Listen now to understand how solving healthcare's data plumbing problem could revolutionize patient care worldwide!