To provide home isolation services for Coronavirus positive patients as more than 80 per cent of COVID-19 positive patients are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, do not require hospital care
Portea Medical has tied up with the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi to provide home isolation services for Coronavirus positive patients. This is one among 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.
Understanding how more than 80 per cent of COVID-19 positive patients are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and do not require hospital care, Portea Medical has been helping the state in screening patients for home isolation. These patients are monitored remotely through a comprehensive tracking system involving government doctors and experts from Portea for the entire mandated isolation period of 17 days.
Portea also submits regular reports on their condition flagging off any health complications. If required, the company arranges for a teleconsultation with Delhi Government doctors using its technology platform. For cases where hospitalisation 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.
Speaking about this, Meena Ganesh, MD and CEO, Portea Medical, said, “We are happy to join hands with the Government of Delhi in the battle against COVID-19. At Portea, we have been leveraging technology to provide end-to-end home healthcare services to customers for over seven years and have developed the requisite capability and infrastructure at scale. This partnership is an opportunity for us to utilise this specialisation and help the government manage the crisis with technology as an enabler. Since the entire process is being managed via remote monitoring, the risk of infection for frontline healthcare workers will also be reduced significantly. We believe that this is the right time to integrate home healthcare and telemedicine as core elements of our national healthcare strategy.”
Under the initiative, about 8 per cent of patients have been moved from home to hospital so far. About 5500 COVID 19 patients have been onboarded for home isolation and 160 transferred to hospitals. There are over 3000 doctor teleconsultations for patients under home isolation and the number of patients discharged from isolation after getting disease-free stands at 1900. The patients do not have to pay any fee for the service.
Portea’s initiative comes at a time when there is a need for an integrated, public-private partnership approach to healthcare. Given the number of cases, it is 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 GrowthStory.
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.