SenaCare and Doktor-i.com announce the launch of Ask the Doctor

PHILADELPHIA, PA, April 21, 2011 (Press-News.org) SenaCare and Doktor-i.com (Member of Portal Holdings) today announced a relationship to launch an online second opinion platform aimed at increasing patient awareness in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and fostering relations among international healthcare professionals. The two companies began collaborating on the service partnership in January during Arab Health 2011, the second largest medical exhibition in the world, held annually in Dubai. The joint service, Ask the Doctor will be available on Doktor-i.com's website and will serve as an area where users can connect with SenaCare's American Board Certified physicians, who represent a variety of medical specialties and multicultural backgrounds. Ask the Doctor will enable patients and healthcare professionals in the MENA region to ask medical questions in order to obtain highly qualified American Board Certified second opinions, and access monthly healthcare webinars. Under the terms of the agreement, SenaCare healthcare services (medical/health travel, expert panel diagnosis and referral, and telemedicine) will be listed on Doktor-i.com's website.

Innumerable international health reports have recently released information emphasizing the importance of online healthcare communities as a means to better support the flow of communication between patients and providers as well as the sharing of medical information among healthcare professionals. Online health communities, such as Ask the Doctor, can assist patients with gathering more personalized healthcare information in order to possibly prevent or manage certain health conditions. In the 2010 WHO (World Health Organization) article Integrating prevention into health care, it was reported that many costly and disabling conditions, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, are linked by common preventable risk factors. Dr. Wehbe, Founder of SenaCare offered, "We (SenaCare) are very excited about working with Doktor-i.com as the medical representatives for Ask the Doctor. SenaCare's physicians represent a wide array of medical specialties, and collectively, we believe Ask the Doctor will be an incredible resource for patients and healthcare providers in the MENA region. Together with Doktor-i.com, our objective is to empower the MENA healthcare community, and in turn, assist in the efforts to improve clinical outcomes and reduce overall healthcare costs."

The relationship between Doktor-i.com and SenaCare represents a strong advance in the world online healthcare communities for the MENA region. As the MENA's first online doctor appointment portal, Docktor-i.com is already equipped with secure web technology, facilitating the set up and management of Ask the Doctor. From a medical standpoint, SenaCare's American Board Certified physicians have extensive clinical and academic experience in the US as well as internationally; many are considered experts in their field. Ask the Doctor offers patients and providers a unique opportunity to talk about health and medical topics with physicians based in the US and also to learn about various health topics via online scheduled monthly webinars. Overall, Ask the Doctor was organized with a focus to be user friendly and to serve the MENA region's growing healthcare needs. "Thanks to SenaCare and their network of US based physicians, we are able to offer this unique opportunity to provide personalized medical information to our growing online healthcare community," said Jorgen Ellingson, Doktor-i.com's co-founder. "Introducing these new services is a natural extension of our healthcare portal strategy which only enhances our users experience by giving them more tools to get the information they need when they need it. We think this is very cool."

About SenaCare:

SenaCare is an American Board Certified physician based healthcare organization dedicated to providing patients from around the world the best healthcare. Dr. Wehbe founded SenaCare with a group of socially responsible American Board Certified physicians, who represent a variety of medical specialties and multicultural backgrounds. SenaCare specializes in expert panel treatment diagnosis and referral, American Board Certified Second Opinions, telemedicine, medical travel/tourism, VIP healthcare and remote/offshore medical services. Currently, SenaCare has its headquarters in the US, conducts telemedicine in West Africa, and has physician representation in many countries worldwide. In 2011, SenaCare is planning to enter into at least five new international markets, with a high focus on Dubai, the UAE, and the MENA/GCC region.

About Docktor-i.com
Owned by Portal Holdings FZ LLC, Doktor-i.com is a patient/doctor portal for the MENA region. Doktor-i.com offers online doctor appointments with an expanding network of regional doctors, clinics, and hospitals as well as online healthcare resources like Ask the Doctor, newsletters, and webinars. Also Doktori offers flexible appointment management solutions for doctors, clinics, and hospitals to increase their patient flow while expanding their market regionally as well as internationally.

Contact person: Jorgen Ellingson, Co-founder
Company name: Portal Holdings, FZ LLC
Phone: +971-50-1044-989
Email: Jorgen@portalholdings.com
Physical/postal address: Address: PO Box 487177 Dubai, UAE
Website: http://www.doktor-i.com/

Contact person: Cassandra Cipoletti, Managing Director of US Operations
Company name: SenaCare
Phone/fax: +1-215-878-1056
Email: ccipolet@senacare.com
Physical/postal address: 2734 West Country Club Rd, Philadelphia, PA, 19131, USA
Website: http://www.senacare.com