Medwell Ventures led by Vishal Bali has stormed into the home healthcare market in India to offer specialised continuity care to scores of patients suffering from chronic health conditions. The company in its initial round of funding from the promoters of the group which include Cytespace Research Private Limited will invest US$ 15-20 million or around Rs.120 crore over the next 3-5 years.
The company co-promoted by Vishal Bali former chief executive officer, Fortis Healthcare and Dr. Ferzaan Engineer chairman, Cytespace Research and former, chief executive officer, Quintiles India expects to establish a hub & spoke model and a network in Bengaluru and 10 metro clusters in the country to serve millions of families over 3-5 years. This will be supported by cloud-based technology platforms and protocol-driven services in specialised therapeutic areas.
In addition, Medwell chalked an inorganic growth path acquiring the 19 year-old Bengaluru-based Nightingales Home Health Services which provides annually 53,000 patients bedside nursing, 24,000 medical services and over 5,000 families subscribing to its annual care plans. Gaining a big advantage of infrastructure and services Medwell forays into the promising specialty home healthcare with a focus on congestive cardiac failure(CCF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD), neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson, arthritis, orthopedic rehabilitation, post operative surgical site management and metabolic diseases for geriatric and other age-groups.
“Current key objective for healthcare providers is to decrease the average hospital stay allowing patients an early return-to-work. Clinicians want clinical effectiveness and this is where continuity of care is required. Patients are looking at affordability and prefer to stay away from re-admissions. This is where, we could chip in the specialized home healthcare services and provide continuity of care in a home”, Vishal Bali, co-founder and chairman, Medwell Ventures said at a press conclave.
“In fact in India, 4.5 million succumb from chronic disease and 25 per cent patients are under 60 years. The challenge of growing geriatric population and hospital bed shortage creates an environment for quality continuity care The readmission for COPD is 23 per cent and CCF is 17 per cent. While large and medium hospitals would go in for this extended care. We are also talking to nursing homes which could be a part of the home healthcare space. In addition , we are also in conversation with medical insurance companies to rope in this sector for reimbursements. It is envisaged that medical insurance players would soon cover this segment,” added Bali.
There is a paradigm shift in the Indian healthcare space driven by consumer awareness and a technology revolution with the entry of innovative miniaturization of medical devices. This creates the right platform for home healthcare, said Dr. Ferzaan Engineer, co-founder, Medwell Ventures and Cytespace.
According to Lalit Pai, member, Medwell founding team, the company is putting in place an International; Clinical Advisory Board.
Cytespace Research will also be engaged in clinical research focusing only creating a data base of disease patterns in the country.