The Hindu Business Line : In the nick of time

Aastha can mean faith or assurance. But to most people, it means help in a time of need, as the institution offers medical aid and support services during a medical emergency.

They call their organisation Aastha — meaning faith and assurance. And assurance is what they seek to provide by way of medical help to tide over some of the worst emergencies — when help never seems to be at hand.

The idea germinated in 1997 in the minds of a couple of `wet- behind-the-ears' doctors who found themselves constantly on call by elderly relatives and acquaintances whose family was located outside due to their professional callings. "While attending to these calls we found that the there was a growing need not only for direct medical service for these people, but also for support services. As doctors, we rushed whenever these elderly people called, but we soon realised that it was as important to ensure that treatments suggested by us were carried out," says Bedabrata Bhattacharyya. Thus, was born Aastha, in the teeming metropolis of Kolkata.

The four doctors who got together to launch this venture, were convinced that they had indeed answered a fast emerging need. One that was created by a society which had a large geriatric population, but very little by the way of support services — the crucial input lacking here was the absence of their immediate relatives.

Within a year Aastha had on its rolls 500 members, but till then, the service was restricted only to the southern part of the city.

Five years down the line, not only has its geographical spread expanded but even its range of services and the degree of professionalisation have made remarkable strides.

Today, Aastha has among its management team, a professor of economics and also personnel with degrees in hospital management. Currently with 1,200 members on its rolls and a network of doctors, paramedics and support staff, the organisation covers the entire city, with the service being decentralised through five regional centres from where help is disseminated when an SOS is received.

So, how exactly does Aastha respond when it receives an emergency call?

In the words of the 76-year-old Dhruba Banerjee, the team sent by Aastha provided excellent support to her 87-year-old husband and her NRI daughter, who just happened to be around during the medical emergency that struck the family, but knew little of the intricacies of the systems here.

"Since our membership, they had kept, ready at hand, a medical file on us, which they consulted before moving me to the hospital," says Banerjee who had to undergo a surgery.

"We first respond by sending a doctor and a paramedic to the member's residence. If the medical condition can be attended to without admission, it is done. If not, we hospitalise the patient." This, according to Dr Bhattacharyya, can either be done at the network of hospitals where Aastha has tie-ups and where patients can get discounts or at any place of the family's choice. Aastha has on its rolls a team of 74 doctors who administer primary attention, while the 55 paramedics attend to the other aspects such as administering an injection or checking the patient's blood pressure depending upon the exigencies of the situation.

"Since we already have a background of the patients' medical history, not much time is wasted in arranging for medical care," he says. Apart from maintaining patient files, updates are regularly made in the case-histories through aastha-online, so that relatives of members staying afar can be posted on the health condition of their loved ones. The idea, say the management at Aastha, is to provide integrated medical care.

That there is a ready market for such services is evident from the presence of other similar organisations. Blue Corps, which was founded in 1999 to serve residents of Salt Lake City, a township on the eastern fringe of the city is one such medical-aid organisation that has a sizeable population of senior citizens.

Although not on as elaborate a scale as Aastha, Blue Corps too fulfils the same need by answering calls from distressed members even at the dead of the night. Says Soumitra Banerjee of Blue Corps, "Our employees do the running around when a family experiences an emergency situation." Recalls Ajita Sarkar, a Blue Corp member, whose family drew a lot of support from the members of Blue Corp when she fractured her leg and there was no one at home to help her. "The team was with us right through and did the entire running around, leaving us only after everything was fully under control," she says.

So, how do the economics of it all work? Aastha charges a fee of Rs 1,500 for the first member of the family who gets a card by subscribing to the service. The other family members get add-on cards at a cost of Rs 750 each.

In case of Blue Corps, a one-time registration fee is collected, along with a monthly charge of Rs 30 per family. Dr Bhattacharyya says that the money collected through subscription fees helps meet the organisation's standards and diversify the product range to include services like a centre for helping autistic children. Aastha also has some tie-ups with old age homes and another with Airtel.

Blue Corps, on the other hand, derives monetary sustenance from its existing line of business — a security service manufacturing unit cum security agency. "We provide all kinds of security services from guarding the members' premises when they are away to calling the fire brigade if need be," says Banerjee.

The trend, from the kind of response one hears, is welcomed by senior citizens like Banerjees or the younger family of Sarkars, as these organisations ensure a peaceful night's sleep with help only a phone-call away.

Picture by Parth Sanyal

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