A Practical Checklist to Reduce the “Empty Clinic” Phase

This is where most doctors already lose time. Ideally, your presence should exist before your physical clinic does. Set up a simple website with an online OPD and a teleconsultation option. The goal is not revenue on day one; the goal is discoverability. When someone searches your name, something credible should show up. This can be done for roughly ₹499 per month, yet most doctors delay it for months.

Create and optimise your Google Business Profile early. Add your clinic category correctly, upload real photos (even if the clinic is still being set up), set accurate timings, and ensure your phone number works.

Yes, it sucks. After years of studying, training, and working, making videos can feel insulting. It feels like something you shouldn’t have to do. But the reality is simple: patients cannot value what they cannot see.

You don’t need to “create content.” Just record the explanations you already give every day in OPD—about symptoms, surgeries, recovery, myths, and when not to worry. Speak like you do with patients, not like a lecturer.

These videos are not about going viral. They:

• Reduce patient anxiety before consultation.
• Pre-filter serious patients.
• Shorten consultation time.
• Build trust at scale.

One explanation in OPD helps one patient. One video helps hundreds silently. That difference is what reduces the lag phase.

Organise a one-day free medical check-up camp. Not as charity—be honest with yourself—but as awareness. Ensure your staff collects contact details and clearly explains your clinic services.

Distribute pamphlets, but do not spray them blindly across streets. Focus on nearby societies, shops, and places your actual patients pass through daily. Random distribution rarely converts.

The pharmacies near your clinic already see your patients—often before you do. Introduce yourself personally. Tell them what kind of cases you handle, when referrals make sense, and how patients can reach you.

This is not networking. This is basic ecosystem awareness.

Pathology labs, imaging centres, and even other doctors are natural touchpoints in the patient journey. Most young clinics fail because doctors operate in isolation, assuming referrals will magically appear. They don’t.

Ask satisfied patients for Google reviews. Even a handful matters more than you think. Patients use reviews to reduce uncertainty, not to judge clinical skill.

Also, keep your clinic clean, organised, and calm. Patients subconsciously associate order with competence.

Be clear about fees, timings, follow-ups, and process. Confusion delays decisions. Delayed decisions mean delayed growth.