Listen to Divya dialogue with Prateep Sen, Founder, Tribeca Care on the Indian healthcare system and its innovation during COVID-19. Tribeca Care is a home healthcare company that delivers personalised care to patients in the comfort of their own homes. They provide services like help with pre & post hospitalisation, a full-time attendant at home, physiotherapy at home & clinic, psychotherapy, medical devices and 24/7 emergency responses.
“Real healthcare happens not in the hospital but in the homes.”
How has the Indian healthcare sector evolved during COVID-19?
“COVID has put healthcare in the frontline and has put every other industry on the back burner. Due to COVID-19, everything non-essential is on the sideline.”
Long-Term Effects
People have always saved up on the day-to-day expenses for when something big happens like a heart attack. However, people are now investing in products that make them healthier in the long run. Therefore, in health care, long term health is now in the front, and elective surgeries are at the back.
FYI With DR: Netmeds, the Indian online pharmacy, saw a 119% growth in sales of multivitamins during COVID.
Has COVID-19 given a push to the healthcare sector?
People have been very busy with their everyday lives. Hence, before the pandemic, people would ignore everyday problems like stress, hypertension and excessive work. Healthcare has always been synonymous to hospitals in India. Therefore, once the pandemic hit, people paused their life and realised how important is everyday health. Therefore, decisional care has moved away from hospitals and doctors to patients, health-techs and teleconsultation.
DR Pro Tip: Health-techs, home health care and elderly care companies are stepping up to help with everyday wellness.
Is Tribeca Care inspired by the western healthcare system?
Yes. Prateep shares, “living and working abroad, I was always worried about my mother. Any call after 10 pm would make my heart leap.” The healthcare industry in India is very fragmented. No one in India would provide home healthcare or eldercare.
Private or Public
- Healthcare in the USA is a combination of private and public enterprises. In the USA, home healthcare is almost a USD 80 Billion industry. Hence, USA spends 17% of its GDP on healthcare, yet 20% of the population is not covered.
- On the other end, the UK has a universal healthcare system, and they contribute 7-8% of the GDP to healthcare.
- India has a combination of private and public enterprises. India has been spending only around 4% of its GDP on healthcare.
FYI With DR: The National Health Service or the NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is also the second-largest single-payer healthcare system in the world after the Brazilian Sistema Único de Saúde.
Per Capita GDP
The average spent in the USA in a per capita GDP is USD 60,000 plus on healthcare. In the UK it is USD 40,000. In India, it is a minuscule average of USD 2,000.
FYI With DR: India’s per capita expenditure on health spends less than Bhutan and Sri Lanka.
Health Care Tools
It’s essential to get artificial intelligence and machine learning in-home health and eldercare. Tribeca Care specialises in bringing the necessary tools to provide holistic care and wellness.
DR Pro Tip: Government intervention should make healthcare and eldercare available at the grassroots level. Polio vaccine is one of the most successful examples.
How has mandatory healthcare insurance during COVID-19 affected Tribeca Care?
Prateep explains, “If someone got surgery, they would stay on longer in a hospital than go home because insurance was covering it.” However, now with COVID coming in, many insurance companies have reached out to Tribeca Care to insure people for home healthcare, as it is cheaper than hospitals.
How has Tribeca re-invented during COVID-19?
Prateep states, “Tribeca is a paramedic company, but primarily a logistics company.” As a result, teleconsultation with the doctor has ramped up. Little things like delivering groceries and medicine have become more prominent during the pandemic. Someone from Tribeca goes to the patient’s house with a stethoscope in a PPE kit to navigate teleconsultations.
DR Pro Tip: Services like physiotherapy have come down, but the basic healthcare and eldercare is on the rise.
Did you like this podcast? Listen to Vaibhav Chhabra, CLO and Founder, Maker’s Asylum about how they are shielding India from COVID-19 here.
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