Q. What was the basic idea behind the setting up of the Portal?
A. The idea occurred to me in October 1999. At that time there were no other health portals. We felt that there was need for content that was relevant to India. More important, we wanted to be a site which would make a difference fast to real people.

Q. What are you trying to achieve through this site?
A. The site must be a place where information is disseminated to the common man, the doctors, the chemists and more importantly, the hospitals.

Q. What is the main difference between you and other medical sites?
A. The difference between us and other medical sites is that we are a free site. We do not charge anything for the services we render either to the doctors or to the common public. The site is free; anyone can ask any questions from our panel doctors online. Also, this is the only medical site that is in another language than English. We have the site in Marathi, and soon we are going to launch the Gujrati version.

Q. How many doctors have agreed to be on your panel of doctors?
A. Today the site has more than a hundred doctors spread over 21 broad specialities. More and more doctors are joining the panel and we have received an encouraging response from the medical fraternity.

Q. What, according to you, have been your main achievements?
A. The site has actually helped a drug addict get cured and rehabilitated with a job. When the brother-in-law of the Addittional Municipal Commissioner of Pune had to have a bypass surgery, blood donors that were registered with the site donated blood.

Q. Which are the special areas that your site is concentrating on?
A. We have set up three special support groups which are the AIDS group, the Kidney transplant group, the Heart support group and a Disability group.

Q. What today are the major aims of the site?
A. The aim of the site is very clear in our mind: to remove all misconceptions in the mind of the people about medicine, give them correct and relevant information. Also, we wish to give them a platform to have their voice heard and also help them get ahead in life.

Q. Has your site taken up any special projects to help any individuals?
A. We have taken up the case of Baby Rodger, who has been born with a condition of the heart known as blue baby. For getting the operation done, a sum of Rs 1.25 lakh is required, which we are trying to raise by issuing an appeal on our site. Also, we are helping a Mumbai-based handicapped artist Chhaya Mehta, whose art we are selling through the medium of the site. We are also helping a disabled medico Harinder Dhaliwal to form a disabled help group.We are helping him harness his skills to the betterment of society.

-Rahul Surkund