Vishal Bali, the former CEO of Fortis Healthcare, has forayed into specialty homecare by acquiring Bangalore-based Nightingales Home Health Services. For Bali, this will be his second hat, after him being a key member TPG Growth, a global PE fund.
Bali for the home care foray has partnered Dr Ferzaan Engineer, chairman of Cytespace Research, a research-based company in the Healthcare domain to create a holding company Medwell Ventures, a pan-India healthcare delivery platform. Bali said, the initial round of funding has been done through the promoters and over 3-5 years, they expect to invest $15-20 mn in ramping up this business.
Nightingales Home Health Services, which has been existence for 18 years in Home Healthcare, currently provides 53000 patient bedside nursing days per annum, 24000 medical services per year and has more than 5000 families subscribing to its annual care plans. Medwell plans to expand the services of Nightingales with a Speciality Home Healthcare focus on Pulmonology, Cardiology, Metabolic diseases, Neurological health, Orthopedics, Geriatrics, Rehabilitation and Post-Operative Surgical site management.
The company expects to establish a network in 10 Indian metro clusters serving over a million families in the coming years. This will be supported by a cloud-based Technology platform and protocol-driven services in specialised therapeutic areas. This Healthcare System will integrate different delivery channels to bring care closer to patients. Additional services will include remote health monitoring, tele-health, diagnostics, rehabilitation and wellness therapeutics which will be launched in waves.
Medwell, Bali said, will drive growth by acquisitions and organic investments in new capabilities. The company is also exploring alliances with various global Medical Technology partners in order to provide services, particularly in the area of chronic diseases.
“India’s challenges in Healthcare delivery need answers. More than 40 million Indians lose their lives to chronic diseases each year and a fourth are below 60 years. An ageing population, shortage of hospital beds and the need for continuity of care pre/post-hospitalisation create a strong demand for professionally driven Speciality Home Healthcare services. The future of patient-centric care will incorporate Speciality Home Healthcare as a key element and our team is excited to launch a new venture in this space,” added Bali.
