Bengaluru: Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd, India’s largest doctor discovery portal, has partnered with microblogging platform Twitter to enable users get their healthcare queries answered in real time by doctors, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The company has launched a Twitter handle @AskPracto, which will enable users get responses to their queries by doctors on the Practo Consult platform.

The service has been launched in three countries—India, the Philippines and Singapore—and will be gradually rolled out in other locations.

“The ease of access and simplicity will be disruptive in how people access healthcare information," said Shashank N.D., co-founder and chief executive at Practo.

Practo is the best funded homegrown healthcare start-up, having raised $124 million from investors such as Tencent, Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners, Google Capital and Yuri Milner, the Russian billionaire and founder of DST Global among others.

In the last one year, Practo’s offering to consumers have gone beyond doctor discovery, as the company launched services such as doctor consultation and medicine delivery, started emphasizing on content with health feeds and even entered the beauty and wellness segment.

“Twitter’s real-time, public and conversational capabilities helps people connect with things that matter, big and small. Our customer service partnerships are designed to improve user experience and access to daily utility such as real-time train schedules, pollution data, and customer care from brands. We are excited about our partnership with Practo," said Ravichandran Bhaskaran, head of business development, India and South Asia, Twitter.

Practo has so far refrained from charging consumers for searching for doctors and clinics or booking an appointment. Listing on Practo is also free for doctors. The company currently generates revenue from Practo Ray, a doctor-facing practice management software sold as a subscription-based, software-as-a-service product, and Practo Reach, a sponsored listing service for hospitals and clinics.

Practo’s revenue increased to ₹ 29.73 crore in fiscal 2015 from ₹ 2.30 crore a year earlier, while the company incurred a loss of ₹ 12.85 crore in FY15, as against ₹ 9.88 crore in the year-ago period, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies.

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