WhatClinic.com, the leading health care search engine that helps patients find and compare private medical clinics, has announced its strategic expansion into the Singapore market, in response to the growing demand from private patients. Following its acquisition of a UK dental booking competitor earlier in the year, it will be rolling out real-time booking technology for dental patients as part of its Singapore expansion.
The site lists approximately 600 private doctors, dentists and plastic surgeons on its Singapore pages, and over the past 24 months, it has observed a 307 per cent increase in enquiries from local patients. There has also been a 97 per cent increase in enquiries from patients looking to get treatment in Singapore, coming primarily from Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines. In the past three months alone, over 430,000 people have visited the site looking for dental treatments in Singapore.
The site announced that in order to support consumer choice in Singapore, it will be investing its resources to engage with dentists and doctors, with the goal of tripling local coverage before the end of the year. The main area of focus will be on dental clinics, in order to support the growth in demand for treatments like braces (enquiries have risen 61 per cent) and dental implants (up by 94 per cent). Below is a table of top treatments and their per cent change based on the analysis of 41,913 email enquiries to clinics in Singapore over the past 12 months.
CEO Caelen King said, “We are extremely pleased to be able to support expansion into the Singapore market. We know that private health care consumers in Singapore want more choices because they have told us so. We believe that by giving them all the information they need, they can make empowered choices for themselves and their families. By delivering a comprehensive choice, we can drive up quality and service for all patients.”
Last year, Whatclinic.com made a strategic acquisition of a UK dental booking competitor, Toothpick. It has taken the real-time booking capabilities of Toothpick and is rolling out its real-time booking facility for all dentists listed on the site. King feels that this will be a crucial benefit for time-starved patients in the busy Singapore market.
“Real-time booking is the future of dental care, especially for routine treatments like teeth cleaning or for emergency dental care. That’s why, as we continue to engage with consumers and clinics, we will be investing significant engineering resources into the strategic integrations needed to support the preferred dental booking platforms of Singapore dentists. We are committed to delivering end-to-end online patient service by making the search and book experience as simple and as helpful as possible.”
