Learn how a second-generation Indo-Canadian Mississauga native is taking on one of Canada’s gargantuan health-care problems.
While Canada is one of the world’s richest countries, with a population of approximately 42 million, a gross domestic product of $3.07 trillion (US$2.28 trillion) and is the world’s 10th- largest economy, we are still burdened with our own domestic problems — one of them being the massive disconnect in our health care system.
For some Canadians, the idea of having a family doctor would almost be laughable if it weren’t so worrying, and the lack of access to primary care continues to be a demoralizing hurdle for many Canadians. In fact, 5.9 million to 6.5 million of us do not have a family doctor or access to consistent care — that is, fully one-fifth of the adult population. Clearly, there is something wrong.
Mississauga native Sanveer Dhanju decided to do something about it — and like so many others seeking solutions these days, he turned to AI to help solve the problem.
During the pandemic, both Dhanju and his sister were having difficulty finding a family doctor. They called clinic after clinic with no luck, wasted time calling numbers that were outdated or no longer in service and even took to driving the streets looking for doctors’ signs on storefronts and doors.
There had to be a better, faster way.
After expressing their frustrations online and hearing back from so many other people experiencing the same challenge, they asked themselves “What if someone could just call all the clinics and post all the information in one place?” And so, behold, using AI, Dhanju created the aptly named “DocMaps.”
DocMaps utilizes AI tools that can call doctors’ offices and clinics across the city, ask the right questions and collect information in real time, such as whether a clinic is accepting new patients, how long the wait is, what languages are spoken to communicate with patients, whether the clinic’s doctors are male or female (to align with patient preference) and what range of care is offered.
Dhanju, understanding that having a family doctor was the front door to consistent care, has made this information available to everyone. DocMaps is focused on Ontario right now, but has been built to expand nationally.
“Finding a family doctor is the first point of care you experience in your entire patient journey,” says Dhanju in a recent interview with City Life. “My sister, who unfortunately was experiencing back pain, had to go through a family doctor to get a referral to a specialist — this is the doorway into our health care system, “ he explains. “If you don’t have this, you don’t have access to our great universal health care.”
Dhanju graduated from Western University in London, Ont., with degrees in both Medical Science and Biophysics. While interning at a Toronto hospital, he was exposed to a variety of data projects and technologies, some of which he brought to his DocMaps solution.
The website he designed not only tracks visitors, but through back-end technology can determine which visitors are actually contacting clinics to ensure it is as effective as it can be — all to the benefit of the user. The response so far has been very encouraging, especially among health-care professionals.
“It’s been overwhelmingly positive. Everyone loves that it is a unique way to approach the problem of finding a family doctor — and is amazed that it hadn’t been done before,” he says. “The trick lies in how simple the system is, while at the same time, we have a boundless ability to have conversations with the clinic staff. Our health care system is quite old and was not designed to quickly take advantage of the rapid advancements in technology. DocMaps is changing our health care infrastructure.”
Dhanju proudly acknowledges that the support of his parents and their experience of building a life in Canada after immigrating from India had an enormous impact on him and played a role in his development of DocMaps.
“A lot of this comes from being the son of immigrant parents who are getting older and whose own health care needs are evolving. In a way, this is my way of paying back,” says Dhanju. “They’ve lived the journey of that really tough struggle of moving to another country, and they had to fit themselves into a new system and a new mould. They sacrificed a lot to give us the opportunities we’ve had growing up. A lot of the values and hard work they showed me, growing up, I try to embody in my business — of staying determined and sticking to your beliefs, knowing your strengths and sticking to your core set of values. DocMaps feels like a very Canadian thing to do in helping people access care. I feel like I needed to do something with the opportunities given to me, and this is my way of paying it forward.”
DocMaps is currently in collaboration with Ontario Health Teams and is aiming to work with Ontario Health. The platform is gaining strong momentum as it prepares for a national expansion, with overwhelming demand already emerging from Alberta, Nova Scotia and British Columbia.
INTERVIEW BY MARC CASTALDO
