Winning In A Fragmented Sector

Care24 was formed with vision to deliver healthcare at home, and make it reliable, accessible and affordable. It was indeed a personal experience that led Garima Tripathi, the COO and co-founder of the company to set up Care24.

“The poor quality of healthcare for my parents in Lucknow made me aware of the issues crippling Indian healthcare. I moved back from the US in 2014 to be closer to family due to health concerns. I have spent multiple nights in various hospitals with family and was hugely troubled by the drop in quality of care after discharge. My co-founder and I set out on building a platform for getting hospital-like care at home. Fitness has always been a personal aspiration and the desire to spread that to million other people made me take this step,” informs Tripathi.

At present, Care24 serves more than 1,000 patients a day in Mumbai and Delhi suffering from conditions like neurological disorders, cancer, stroke, paralysis, Alzheimer’s, cardiac issues and other chronic conditions. It provides employment to more than 1,500 caregivers, including doctors, ICU and non-ICU nurses, physiotherapists and attendants, in Mumbai and Delhi. It charges patients for the services provided which covers the cost and includes a healthy business margins for sustainable growth.

An Unorganised Industry
A fragmented industry in home healthcare with no standardisations or customer awareness proved to be the biggest challenge for Care24. Technology adoption turned out to be another as the caregivers such as nurses and attendants were not very keen to adopt technology in their work. There also was customer education and cultural divide to deal with. “The customers often come from well-off families whereas the caregivers are from lower middle class. Bridging this gap and establishing a sense of empathy in both parties was essential,” observed Tripathi.

For Tripathi, one of the biggest achievements for the company so far has been the customer feedback. There was also the takeaway for providing employment. “The constant inspiration to provide employment is also source of satisfaction for me.”

Elaborating on future ambitions, Tripathi says, “I want to make Care24 a global organization in the field of home healthcare. We will follow global standards. Any condition that can be treated at home will be taken care by Care24. We will be expanding to 10 more cities in India and do a lot more condition-based care, ICU care at home and chronic care. We also look at global markets for expansion and would be soon preparing to enter some of the other countries in Asia.”