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The growing health care awareness among those living in urban and suburban India has unleashed a plethora of opportunities in the health care sector. Even small medical practitioners pursuing a practice in the bigger towns are now less hesitant to return to their roots.
Although there is a flourishing market in the hinterland for those offering medical services, small nursing homes lack the resources needed for setting up modern health care infrastructure, and this is a bottleneck in the expansion of health services in remote areas.
Realising the business potential in health care services in emerging India, the Burman family - promoters of the Dabur group - has set up a joint venture with Charles Walsh and Gareth Jones, former directors of the UK's leading home health care company, Healthcare At Home.
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This concept offers high-tech care at home for patients with chronic medical needs. Health Care At Home was launched in April 2013 and started its operations in Delhi NCR, where it has empanelled 300 doctors and 20 private hospitals. It also has about 150 other staff such as nurses, physiotherapists and nutritionists.
"With the cost of treatment escalating in corporate hospitals and the limited number of beds available in government-run hospitals, this business model has tremendous potential in the Indian health care sector," said Vivek Srivastava, the chief executive officer of Health Care At Home.
After the success of its model in Delhi NCR, the company now plans to expand its footprint in Punjab, Haryana, the Union Territory of Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh.
The company's study of the Indian health care sector revealed that patients and their attendants have to travel large distances for treatment. The cost of treatment in terms of travel expenses, board and lodging and extended indoor post-surgical treatment is high, since it is difficult to visit a hospital again and again for follow-up treatment from distant areas.
At the same time, there is no dearth of qualified doctors who wish to work in their home towns. However, they cannot pursue their practice for want of the requisite infrastructure, and therefore choose to get absorbed in the over-crowded metros and other cities.
Health Care At Home's model provides post-operative care for joint replacements, spinal surgery, oncology surgery and neuro-surgery. Besides this, treatment at the doorstep of the patient for the elderly, and in the fields of infertility, oncology, respiratory care, mother and child care, and physiotherapy is provided by trained professionals.
An intensive care unit (ICU) created at home not only cuts the cost by 50 per cent but also helps in speedy recovery and low risk of infection. The use of technology enables consultants to make 'virtual' rounds and this makes doctors accessible to patients without having to travel and wait in queues.
Harsh Batra, head of the cardiology department and the ICU at Fortis Hospital, Mohali, said that care at home by qualified and trained professionals helps cut the cost of tertiary care after surgery and reduces the chances of hospital-acquired infection.
He added that the availability of good doctors in the hinterland would also help in early diagnosis of potentially fatal diseases, and patients can be brought to the bigger hospitals well in time, thus saving precious lives.
Anil Bansal, a consultant cardiologist at Columbia Asia Hospital, Gurgaon, said that home health care can help doctors reach out to more patients. Patients find it difficult to run around for medical investigations like blood tests and ultrasound, and mobile vans provided under this model can help save time and cost.
Ashish Sharma, a supplier of equipment to Health Care At Home, said that the volume of his business has doubled, since the company's demand for medical equipment in the critical health care segment was substantial.
