Nightingales Home Health Services announces foray into Chennai, adds 5th city to its network

A multi-disciplinary and experienced team will provide comprehensive healthcare services at home including visits by doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, respiratory therapists and wound care therapists, said Vishal Bali, Co-founder & Chairman Medwell Ventures, who cited the subscriber-based model and a branch-led approach to be among the key differentiators for NHHS.

A study that tracked stroke patient care, which included physio-therapy, speech therapy, nursing and doctor visits typically costs Rs 90,000 for availing it at a hospital or a nursing home over three months. But, in NHHS the cost would be Rs 45,000, Bali sought to point out.

Heart diseases, COPD, Strokes, Cancers and Diabetes are 60% cause of mortality in the country. Non-Communicable Disease’s (NCD’s) scale to become chronic diseases and currently account for 40% of all hospital stays and 35% of OPD visits. NCD’s and neuro-health issues will cost India $4.58 trillion by 2030 and will cause huge health affordability issues, he said.

COPD requirement in Mumbai was higher than Bengaluru where NHSS services 2,000 stroke cases a month, he said, adding reducing the incidence of re-hospitalisation and exerting influence in the areas which were not in the hospital ambit are the focus areas for NHHS. 

Hospitals were centres of intensive and surgical care whereas the services offered by NHHS was to offer a comprehensive care plan based on clinicians advice that could be executed by the Nightingales team.

Narasimha Jayakumar, CEO, NHHS, said given the huge shortage of beds and hospitals and the demand outstripping supply scenario, such a specialised home care service would provide people value and convenience. Partnering with insurers and hospitals is also part of the strategy, he added.

“Chronic diseases are a key healthcare issue in Chennai with a high re-hospitalisation rate. Our Adyar branch will cover 3.2-3.5 million people and subsequent branches will come up in other parts of the city. With more than 60% of hospital beds currently present in central Chennai we see post hospitalisation care as an integral offering from Nightingales”, Jayakumar said, adding TN had the highest death rate due to lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and kidney ailments.

There would be concerted efforts to leverage technology by introducing remote patient monitoring systems as the idea was to create a sector and not a company, Bali said.

While the concept of family physicians is still alive in tier II and III locations, it had totally disappeared in the cities. With over 1,000 people availing their services, the scope to create a better healthcare eco-system is immense, he added.

Nightingales, with a 22-year history in home health in Bangalore, was acquired by Medwell Ventures. In May 2015, Eight Roads Ventures (formerly Fidelity Growth Partners) led $10 million in Series A round in Medwell Ventures followed by a series B-round $ 21mn in 2017 by Mahindra Partners. The company has overall raised about $35 million across its seed, series A, and series B rounds.