HYDERABAD: In an attempt to become a full-fledged consumer healthcare services company in the future, Bengaluru-based in-home healthcare services provider Portea Medical will be launching a patient app next month that is expected to take care of all the non-tertiary healthcare needs of a patient, said Portea Medical co-founder and chairman K Ganesh.
"In 70% of situations, one need not go to a hospital. In the rest 30%, one has to go to hospitals for things like consulting an oncologist or getting a surgery done. So for the 70% of the services required, Portea will be able to provide services through a single app. The app will provide access to our doctors 24/7 and since we have your GPS coordinates, we can even direct you to a nearby hospital in case of emergencies. That means, one single app will be able to fulfill all the non-tertiary care needs," he said, adding that some of the services that Portea aims to provide though its upcoming app include access to nursing, physiotherapy, diagnostics services, medicine delivery and renting medical equipment, among others.
The serial entrepreneur added that in the next six months, the company will focus on the launch of deep vertical services in areas like diabetes, sleep apnea, respiratory problems and cancer, among others, and will also roll out remote monitoring services using point of care (POC) devices in partnership with American Megatrends across all its centres.
Under the partnership, Portea's healthcare workers will use American Megatrends's B.O.L.T health monitoring device to collect health data such as NiBP (Non-invasive Blood pressure), pulse, blood oxygen levels and temperature from their homecare patients on smartphones. The data will then be used to personalize treatment plans and proactively intervene when the patient's conditions warrant action, Ganesh explained. The company is also looking at providing dialysis and drug infusions at home, he added.
Speaking about the company's experience in the two Telugu speaking states, he revealed that the number of NRIs paying for in-home healthcare services for their parents is quite high in the region and the number of people opting for preventive healthcare packages too is quite high in the two states.
Talking about the future plans of the company, which has a presence in 24 cities, including Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, where it recently launched its services, he said it is eyeing a presence in 50 cities across the country over the next two years.
He said the company is also looking to raise its Series-B funding of around $40 million with the deal expected to be closed in the next six to eight weeks.
"Funds will be invested in building technology, brand building and expansion activities," Ganesh said, adding that the company is also planning to launch its services in Indonesia and other South East Asian countries in the coming days. In the international market, Portea Medical has a presence in Malaysia.
Portea was established in July 2013 by the husband-wife serial entrepreneur duo of Krishnan and Meena Ganesh, who have invested in start-ups like BigBasket, Bluestone, Avagmah and Homelane, among others.