Portea Medical partners with Greater Chennai Corporation for Home isolation Services for COVID-19 positive patients
This unique tie-up will entail remote monitoring of Covid-19 patients in Chennai using technology as an enabler to reduce the existing burden on hospital infrastructure
Portea Medical, India’s largest outside of hospital healthcare company today announced its partnership with the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) to provide home isolation services for Coronavirus positive patients. This is one of the many other initiatives by the company in the wake of the pandemic to help reduce the healthcare burden and free up hospital beds and ICUs for those who need it the most. Portea has a similar tie-up with the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Understanding how more than 80% of COVID-19 positive patients are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and do not require hospital care, Portea Medical has been helping the GCC in managing patients that are home isolated. These patients are monitored remotely through a comprehensive tracking system involving government doctors and experts from Portea for the entire mandated isolation period of 14 days.
Portea also submits regular reports on their condition flagging off any health complications. If required, the company arranges for an e-consultation with the government doctors using its technology platform. For cases where hospitalization may be needed, Portea notifies the appropriate government agency for action on the ground. After the mandatory isolation period, patients who meet certain criteria are discharged from home isolation. The initiative is thus aimed at helping reduce the burden on hospitals and healthcare resources significantly.
Meena Ganesh, MD, and CEO, Portea Medical, said, “Understanding that technology-enabled home healthcare is the future; we are happy to join hands with the Greater Chennai Corporation in their battle against COVID-19. Over the past 7 years, we have served over 1.5 million patients at their homes and have the necessary skill-set and infrastructure in place to help patients in their self-isolation journey during this pandemic. This partnership will enable us to put this experience into practice during a time when it is imperative for private players to work closely with the government authorities. By providing remote monitoring of patients at their homes, we will be able to reduce the burden on healthcare workers significantly. The need of the hour is for India to integrate home healthcare and telemedicine as one of the foundations of its national healthcare strategy.”
Under the initiative, about 2500 COVID-19 patients have been on-boarded for home isolation services and 50 have been transferred to hospitals after initial screening. More than 2500 e-consultations have been provided and about 1200 patients have been discharged after treatment. The patients do not have to pay any fee for the service.
Portea’s initiative comes at a time when the cases are at an all-time high making it imperative to leverage the expertise of both government and private players in managing the scenario and infection control. Portea Medical is backed by leading investors such as IFC (World Bank group), Accel Partners, Qualcomm, MEMG CDC, Ventureast, Sabre, and is promoted by Growth Story.
Home isolation management is a critical service for patients and their families. We are delighted to see Portea’s contribution to national health in these trying times”, added Ruchira Shukla, South Asia Regional Lead for Disruptive Technology Investments and VC Funds, IFC.
Portea Medical has been undertaking various initiatives during the COVID-19 crisis. The company launched a Chatbot in association with the Government of Goa to answer people’s queries around the pandemic. They also launched their Home Quarantine services to help people undertake a coronavirus test at home and monitor their health over 14 days.
