Gurgaon, India: As per the EY-FICCI study titled, “COVID-19 impact assessment for the private healthcare sector and key financial measures recommendations for the sector”, the private healthcare sector in India has taken a major dip with the outbreak of COVID-19. The study further states that there has been an 80% fall in patient consultations and a drop of 50%-70% in revenue in the private healthcare sector by the end of March.
With the onset of the global lockdown, the number of both in-patient and out-patient procedures in the private hospital sector- multi-specialty, single-specialty or even diagnostics- decreased exponentially.
Amidst such difficult times, a Gurgaon-based healthcare startup, Pristyn Care is working exceptionally to provide minimally invasive surgical procedures (a combination of outpatient and inpatient) in several major cities in India. The multispecialty clinic chain is founded by three members- Dr. Vaibhav Kapoor, Dr. Garima Sawhney and Mr. Harsimarbir Singh.
Established in late 2018, Pristyn Care is an asset-light full-stack health care provider that takes care of the end-to-end patient journey for hassle-free patient experience, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are primarily backed by technology to ensure that the patient journey is as seamless as possible.
How Pristyn Care Is Serving Patients Amidst COVID-19?
Here are some ways in which Pristyn Care, a short stay surgery simplified healthcare platform, is striving to provide medical services across India.
- Online Health Consultation- The recently launched Patient App from Pristyn Care offers a non-disruptive healthcare experience amidst this pandemic. A patient can consult with the doctor of their preference without stepping out of their home via this app. Furthermore, the mobile application is designed to send regular updates and real-time notifications related to COVID-19 to the users.
- Safety Measures- Anticipating the impact of the COVID-19 infection on the health care ecosystem before its competitors, Pristyn Care placed the highest standards of hygiene and safety practices at their clinic as well as partner hospitals. Some of the safety measures that have been put in place include-
- Thermal screening of patients, doctors, and medical staff at the entrance of the clinics and the hospitals.
- Doctors, nurses, and support staff wear medically recommended Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits both during the consultation and the surgery.
- Regular sanitization of medical equipment at the clinic and hospital before and after every appointment.
- Patients are treated only at selected partner-hospitals where there have been no reported cases of COVID-19.
- A dedicated Care Buddy at the hospital on the day of the surgery who takes care of the documentation process for admission and discharge ensures minimum contact.
- Arranging diagnostic tests for COVID confirmation- Medical coordinators of Pristyn Care are arranging the provision of diagnostic tests for COVID detection. They can help in scheduling an appointment for the collection of samples from home or designated sample collection points. Taking one step further, Pristyn Care collaborated with another Gurgaon-based home services aggregator, Urban Company to offer free telemedicine consultations and COVID-19 testing to its 30,000 service partners.
Speaking on collaborating with Urban Company, Mr. Harsimarbir explains, “We understand the need for COVID test during this vulnerable time, especially when it is confirmed that the virus can spread through asymptomatic carriers too. Pristyn Care is partnering with companies for random testing of their employees.” Mr. Singh has been a part of the Urban Company group in the past.
- Short- Stay Surgeries- Pristyn Care relies on minimally invasive surgeries- laser and laparoscopic technique- that guarantees short stay at the hospital. A shorter stay at the hospital reduces the risk of getting contact with the deadly virus. These are surgical procedures that can allow patients to reduce the time of hospital stay.
The medical service provider is offering minimally-invasive procedures primarily in six categories- Proctology, Gynecology, Urology, Vascular, ENT, and Laparoscopy. Recently, they added two more categories- Aesthetics and Ophthalmology. - Partnering with small as well as large hospitals to maintain social distancing- Pristyn Care partners with smaller hospitals too along with multi-specialty hospitals. The benefit of choosing to get treated with a smaller set up is that there is no overcrowding which reduces the risk of virus contamination.
In addition to the above measures, they have also established COVID-19 helpline numbers to guide patients seeking medical needs.
At present, the modern health care provider is operational in 17 cities including Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur, Nagpur, Bhopal, Patna, Ludhiana, Kanpur, Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Indore, Agra.
