After her wedding and the birth of her daughter, Sara Saeed was expected to give up work to stay at home as a “doctor-bride”, a term used to refer to married female doctors. This phenomenon is common in Pakistan: whilst the country produces 150,000 doctors every year and 63% of medical students are female, only 23% of registered doctors are women, as recorded by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. This shows that many of these female doctors are never able to contribute to Pakistan’s critical medical needs because of cultural constraints.
Access to quality health care in Pakistan is still a challenge. According to the World Health Organization, the current nurse and midwife density in Pakistan is 5.7 for every 10,000 inhabitants. Moreover, 50% of the population is unable to access primary healthcare and 46% of people live more than ten kilometers from a rural health center.
Inspired by these statistics and her current situation, Sara co-founded a platform by which female doctors can be reintegrated back into the work force using technology.