There’s a new company entering the mobile healthcare space in Asia, and it is perhaps an unlikely name. That’s because telecom giant Telenor has launched Tonic, a service that provides basic medical information as well as more sophisticated services.

Tonic has launched first in Bangladesh via Telenor-owned Grameenphone, the country’s largest operator with over 57 million customers.

Bangladesh is the world’s eighth largest country with a population of 168 million people, yet there are just 0.4 doctors per 1,000 people and the World Health Organization estimates that 60 percent of national healthcare spend is not covered by insurance. Continue reading →