Mayank Gupta, a 22-year-old management student, went into a coma following an accident. His retired father Pramod Gupta had to spend half of his savings of Rs 10 lakh in a single month on his son’s treatment at a well-known hospital in New Delhi. Besides, he had to arrange for another Rs 9 lakh for further treatment, failing which he would have to vacate the room allotted for his son.

It was then that someone recommended Alacurity, a Delhi-based pre and post hospitalisation service provider, which helped Gupta rein in his financial burden, and also set up an intensive care unit at his home for less than Rs 1 lakh a month.

Expensive medical treatment in metros and inaccessibility in small towns are paving the way for several start-ups such as Alacurity, Healthkart and HealthCare Magic to fill in the existing gaps in the healthcare system. They focus on preventive healthcare services such as post-treatment check-up, follow-up visits and better referrals.

Alacurity, promoted by seed fund InQvent Holding, offers patient assistance, medical equipment and preventive care. Besides, it provides nurses, physiotherapists and medical products including respiratory inhalers, drug devices and medicines to patients at prices ranging from Rs 10,000-2 lakh — which is 25 per cent cheaper than the treatment at most hospitals.

Founded in March this year, Alacurity received Rs 5 crore seed funding from InQvent. The fund will be utilised for expansion activities over the next 24 months.

“There is a huge demand-supply gap in the healthcare sector. Hospitals in India operate like factories and the patient has no clue what and where he is spending. We are getting about 15-20 enquiries every day, but the potential is to serve 2,000 patients on a day-to-day basis,” said Shyam Sundar Znwar, MD, InQvent Holdings.

Online boom

Bangalore-based Healthcaremagic.com offers specialised packages related to blood pressure, pregnancy, diabetes, cancer and other ailments. It connects patients with registered doctors and specialists online, thus saving time from frequent hospital visits. Started four years ago, it started gaining momentum in the last couple of years, given the boom in online ventures. It has already clocked 4.5 million visitors a month, said its co-founder Abhilash Thirupathy.

Meanwhile, Prasant Tandon, co-founder of a year-old Delhi-based online firm, Healthkart, said the biggest challenge in the sector is authenticity of medical products. Its top selling categories are nutrition and diabetes products with about 800 products getting shipped everyday.

With a 50 per cent monthly growth rate, Healthkart clocks revenues of Rs 2 crore every month.

priyanka.pani@thehindu.com

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