Emergency care provider Aapka Urgicare, promoted by ex-Max Healthcare CEO Pervez Ahmed and Falck, Denmark’s biggest mobile healthcare provider, will together open a chain of 110 clinics in North India in the next four years, Falck’s India partner Vipin Khanna told Business Standard today.
The first clinic to take care of trauma patients, especially victims of road accidents, was opened by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit here earlier this week.
The newly started venture aims at plugging the gap between primary general practitioners and the emergency rooms of hospitals through its clinics, each of which will have an average area of 5,000 square feet.
Pervez Ahmed, who is CMD of Urgicare, said, "We plan to open 110 urgent care centres in North India in next four years. What we are following is an asset light model as most of the locations will be on long term leases."
He added, "There is a huge opportunity as there is a big gap between primary general practitioners and the emergency rooms of tertiary care hospitals."
The Urgent Care Centre (UCC) will provide both ambulance support and emergency care for immediate medical treatment outside a hospital's emergency room and will remain open 24 hours on all days.
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All the UCCs will be located in densely populated urban and suburban areas and will capitalise on the 'golden hour', when immediate supportive care in life-threatening cases can save patients' lives, Ahmed said.
"The company has also tied up with Denmark-based ambulance firm Falck to provide ambulances at all the centres," he added.
Falck’s Indian partner, Khanna said that he hoped a huge gap in healthcare would be plugged with these clinics.
He said the ‘Golden Hour’ the one hour period between an accident and access to medical help, represents the difference between life and death in trauma cases. Falck’s ambulatory health services, which are considered state of the art all over the world, will contibute to better healthcare.