Colombian Web Site For Medical Advice Expands to Mexico

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The Colombian Web site 1doc3, which allows users to ask questions about health issues and get free and confidential advice from medical specialists, has already been visited by some 100,000 people since its expansion into Mexico, co-founder Javier Cardona said.

The site, which is receiving hits from 141 countries, opened up shop in Mexico in November and has become "the place where people find the best medical answers on the Internet," Cardona said.

Once users register an e-mail address with www.1doc2.com, they can submit questions without charge to specialists, who then post answers on open chat rooms without disclosing personal information other than the visitor's gender and age.

In an interview with Colombia.inn, an Efe-operated news agency, Cardona said 25 percent of the Web site's traffic used to come from Mexico and the site had now expanded its audience.

The Mexican market offers "great opportunities" for the company, Cardona said, adding that the site was expected to reach 1 million users in the first quarter of 2015.

The company has signed agreements with several health-care providers in Mexico to expand the network of specialists answering questions from local users.

"Health care has low visibility on the Internet and we want to become the digital channel connecting patients with health-care providers," he said.

1doc3 is a two-way tool that also gives doctors the option of connecting with new patients who can make appointments via the Web site to discuss their problems further.

The company charges between 5 percent and 15 percent for each medical consultation through 1doc3, with rates set based on the specialist requested by the patient.

Another source of income for the company comes from users who choose to receive answers via text message, a service priced at about 600 pesos (24 cents) in Colombia.

Nearly 472,000 users have received answers to their questions through 1doc3, a Web site created in 2013 by Colombian entrepreneurs and supported by Wayra, a business services operation that belongs to Spain's Telefonica, Cardona said.

The company plans to launch an app for mobile devices in 2015 "since 70 percent of the traffic on the Web site comes from smartphones," Cardona said.

[readon1 url="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2014/12/17/colombian-web-site-for-medical-advice-expands-to-mexico/"]Source:latino.foxnews.com[/readon1]