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This unique tie-up will entail remote monitoring of Covid-19 patients using technology as an enabler to reduce the existing burden on hospital infrastructure
India
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New Delhi/Bangalore, June 05 , 2020:
Meena Ganesh, MD & CEO
In a first-of-its-kind partnership, Portea Medical, India’s largest outside of hospital healthcare company, has tied up with the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi to provide home isolation services for Coronavirus positive patients. This is one among the many other initiatives by the company in the wake of the pandemic to help reduce the healthcare burden and free up hospital beds and ICUs for those who need it the most.
Understanding how more than 80% of COVID-19 positive patients are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and do not require hospital care, Portea Medical has been helping the state in screening patients for home isolation. These patients are monitored remotely through a comprehensive tracking system involving government doctors and experts from Portea for the entire mandated isolation period of 17 days.
Portea also submits regular reports on their condition flagging off any health complications. If required, the company arranges for a teleconsultation with Delhi Government doctors using its technology platform. For cases where hospitalization may be needed, Portea notifies the appropriate government agency for action on the ground. After the mandatory isolation period, patients who meet certain criteria are discharged from home isolation. The initiative is thus aimed at helping reduce the burden on hospitals and healthcare resources significantly.
Speaking about this, Meena Ganesh, MD, and CEO, Portea Medical, said, “We are happy to join hands with the Government of Delhi in the battle against COVID-19. At Portea, we have been leveraging technology to provide end-to-end home healthcare services to customers for over 7 years and have developed the requisite capability and infrastructure at scale. This partnership is an opportunity for us to utilize this specialization and help the government manage the crisis with technology as an enabler. Since the entire process is being managed via remote monitoring, the risk of infection for frontline healthcare workers will also be reduced significantly. We believe that this is the right time to integrate home healthcare and telemedicine as core elements of our national healthcare strategy.”
Under the initiative, about 8% of patients have been moved from home to hospital so far. About 5500 COVID 19 patients have been onboarded for home isolation and 160 transferred to hospitals. There are over 3000 doctor teleconsultations for patients under home isolation and the number of patients discharged from isolation after getting disease-free stands at 1900. The patients do not have to pay any fee for the service.
Portea’s initiative comes at a time when there is a need for an integrated, public-private partnership approach to healthcare. Given the number of cases, it is imperative to leverage the expertise of both government and private players in managing the scenario and infection control. Portea Medical is backed by leading investors such as IFC (World Bank group), Accel Partners, Qualcomm, MEMG CDC, Ventureast, Sabre, and is promoted by GrowthStory.
Home isolation management is a critical service for patients and their families. We are delighted to see Portea’s contribution to national health in these trying times”, added Ruchira Shukla, South Asia Regional Lead for Disruptive Technology Investments and VC Funds, IFC.
Portea Medical has been undertaking various initiatives during the COVID-19 crisis. The company launched a chatbot in association with the Government of Goa to answer people’s queries around the pandemic. They also launched their Home Quarantine services to help people undertake a coronavirus test at home and monitor their health over 14 days.
As India’s largest home healthcare player, Portea has been delivering consistent, high-quality patient care in various parts of the country. The company has catered to over 1.5 million patients in their home environment offering an extensive range of services for chronic diseases, elderly care, post-surgery care, diabetes management, chemotherapy at home, and other diseases or injuries requiring long-term care.
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