Prudential Myanmar, the wholly-owned business unit of Prudential Corporation Asia and MyanCare, a telemedicine company, announced last week a first-of-its kind partnership to improve healthcare access for people across the country.

Through the ‘PRUCare’ program, Prudential Myanmar will provide complimentary healthcare consultation to 5,000 families in Myanmar facilitated through the MyanCare mobile application for one year. The 5000 individuals and families that are identified under the program will receive unlimited free voice and video healthcare consultations facilitated through the MyanCare mobile application for one year. The program will rolled out in phases in 2020. 

These 5,000 users can seamlessly set up appointments for themselves and their family members when the need arises to consult with any of the general practitioners listed in the MyanCare app. All service fees related to the consultations booked and conducted on the MyanCare app will be covered by Prudential Myanmar.

The MyanCare app was launched in 2018 and according to a Myanmar Times article published last year, the app has about 5000 users (at the time of reporting) in 34 towns and cities in 11 states and regions. 

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Prudential has been working with telemedicine/telehealth companies to expand their reach in the APAC region. Last August, Prudential partnered with Singapore-headquartered telemedicine provider MyDoc to offer consumers access to value-added health services on their mobile phones, including doctor consultations, electronic prescriptions and electronic medical certificates, MobiHealthNews reported. 

In June 2019, Prudential also entered into a regional agreement with HælthTech in Asia. Under the agreement, Prudential will integrate HælthTech’s OMNI cloud-computing technology into PRUWorks by Prudential, a one-stop platform that offers small and medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) a range of insurance products, employee benefits and business services that match their size, needs and budget.

ON THE RECORD

“This is our first significant milestone that supports our vision of helping people in Myanmar protect their health and grow their wealth and underscores our “We DO Care” spirit. While the current program with MyanCare will cater to 5,000 families, we aim to extend this initiative to more families across the country in the years to come. Prudential Myanmar is excited to partner with MyanCare and we look forward to launching many more innovative offerings jointly in the coming months and years ahead,” said Asit Rath, Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Myanmar in a statement.

U Zaw Min Tun, CEO of MyanCare, said, “MyanCare is proud to collaborate with Prudential, a leading life insurer in Asia, to extend the use of the MyanCare mobile application to more people across Myanmar. The imbalance of supply of healthcare services and workload demand has been a major pain point in Myanmar. As many live far away from adequate healthcare services, they hesitate to meet with doctors due to financial, transportation and time factors and only visit the hospital when they have entered the late stages of the illness and their symptoms worsen. Meanwhile, many general practitioners who receive fewer patient visits face limitations in providing healthcare services. Together with Prudential Myanmar, we are trying to change this, by encouraging people to seek medical help with the use of MyanCare.”