Nightingales Home Health Services which has recently unveiled its first branch in Mumbai has plans to open 8 more branches in the city over next two years.

Of them, five branches will be opened by the company by the end of the year. Besides this, the company also has plans to start two branches in Pune.

Nightingales has a 20-year history in home health in Bangalore since its acquisition by Medwell Ventures in April 2014. The company has transformed its services with focus on speciality-led home healthcare service delivery in chronic diseases including pulmonology, cardiology, neurology, metabolic diseases, orthopaedics, geriatrics and post-operative rehabilitation and has been on rapid expansion spree across key metros in the country.

Equipped with more than 600 qualified staff comprising doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, respiratory therapists and wound care therapists, Nightingales provides deep coverage through its network of 5 branches in Bangalore and 4 branches in Hyderabad. Some of its branches also provide on site physiotherapy services in conjuction with home physiotherapy to provide patients with the continnum of care. Equipped with qualified staff including clinical, paraclinical professionals, its newly opened 10th branch at Nariman Point in South Mumbai will provide 3.2-3.5 million people comprehensive healthcare services at home including visits by doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, respiratory therapists and wound care therapists.

Giving details about expansion plan, Vishal Bali, co-founder & chairman, Medwell Ventures said “We have expanded Nightingales to 10 branches after acquiring it from founder Dr. Radha Murthy in April 2014. So far we have spent USD 15 million to open 10 branches. Its our mission to expand Nightingales to 102 branches in 15 cities covering 1 million homes over next five years. For this, we have made a provision of USD 35 million. Speciality led home healthcare services with a focus on chronic diseases will play a key role in transformation of healthcare delivery ecosystem in the country in coming years. The personalised home care will drastically reduce recurrent hospitalisation of patients with chronic diseases. This is need of the hour in country like India facing shortage of beds in hospitals.”

Bali said “Currently, home health care industry in India is estimated at US$ 5 billion. Use of technology, consumer connect, good delivery, last mile connect need to be improved to achieve high growth in this sector. Stroke rehabilitation, dementia care, COPD, infusion therapy, orthopaedics, transplant medicine, oncology segments have tremendous potential to drive home health care market in coming years.”

He said “Non communicable diseases comprising heart diseases, COPD, strokes, cancers and diabetes are 60 per cent cause of mortality in the country. They currently account for 40 per cent of all hospital stays and 35 per cent of OPD visits. Specialised home based treatment will reduce hospitalisation of patients suffering such diseases. Nightingales currently provides 10,400 home health services per month across its spectrum of care plans and currently has more than 150 post stroke patients under its care delivery. The company also started an innovative home dentistry service for the elderly and has served more than 1000 patients across Bengaluru and Hyderabad.”

He said “Nightingales has also built relationships with key medical technology providers to enhance its reach and effectiveness of service delivery. It has collaborated with the global major in kidney care, DaVita, to provide home hemodialysis to patients suffering from end stage renal disease. It tied up with Philips to provide home respiratory care to people suffering from chronic disease. It has also partnered with pharma chain Medplus to deliver drugs to patients at home.”

“NCDs and neurohealth issues are likely to cost India US$ 4.58 trillion by 2030 and cause huge health affordability issues. Our subscription based model is a tremendous help to people suffering from NCDs and neurohealth problems,” he opined.