Start-up enterprise iClinic Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. is in aggressive talks with leading private equity companies and individuals to raise the first tranche to the tune of Rs.25 crore. The company was initially funded by its directors with an initial outlay of around Rs.5 crore. It is now looking to raise Rs.20-25 crore through direct placement by individuals and institutions.

The company was founded jointly by Sanjoy Mukerji, ex-chief commercial officer of Vodafone India and Varun Berry, managing director, Britannia Industries to make quality healthcare a reality in India. It will now use the equity infusion to rapidly expand its operations to most of the potential 1,000 towns that have broadband and 3G connection to extend this benefit to working population and their families.

Its pilot unit in Lagos will also become a centre to enter the potential African market with lack of specialist infrastructure even more severe than in India.

The clinic aims to provide specialist care to patients in semi urban towns to have access to specialists and super specialists in metro locations with the help of the local doctor and consult them for diagnosis, advice and treatment. The consultation will happen over an online video call with easy exchange of the patient’s reports over the web after which a the doctor’s consultation summary and a prescription will be disseminated. The data will also be saved for future references. Most importantly, the unique model of iClinic is to reach out to the upcountry areas through Assisted Remote Consults using 3G technology, providing super specialty healthcare services in areas where specialist healthcare is suspect or is or not accessible.

To this end, iClinic has tied up with specialist and super specialist doctors in Delhi and Kolkata and major hospitals like Max Hospitals, Fortis Healthcare, Global Hospitals, Medica Super Specialty (Kolkata), Pushpanjali Crosslay, Nova Speciality Hospitals.

According to Mukerji, iClinic would expand to over 40 remote towns in India It has already started its operation in Karnal, Jind, Kurukshetra &, Sirsa in Haryana, Mandi (Himachal Pradesh), Agartala in Tripura, Kosi in UP. People from neighbouring towns are also finding it convenient to come to our centres to consult specialists in Delhi and Kolkata.

Our corporate units in collaboration with organizations like Vodafone, Aircel, Jubilant Life Sciences in Ranchi, Guwahati and Gajraula are also launched with 6 more in the pipeline in WB, Assam, Meghalaya and Bihar - bringing benefit to the employees and the families of these corporations, he added.

iClinic Healthcare has also launched its E-commerce site www.icliniccare.com with services like 24x7 Doctor on line, Written Medical Advice for 2nd opinions and Video call with specialists from anywhere through an appointment. iClinic has been appointed by Vodafone to offer its web services to their employees in East India.