Anil Ambani co plans to roll out home-based health venture

The World Health Organisation (WHO) projects that by 2015, India will face an estimated annual loss in national income of $54 billion on account of chronic diseases

Mumbai: The Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Health Venture Ltd plans to roll out India’s first home-based disease management service through a wholly owned company, Medybiz.
Disease management, a concept popular in developed countries where medical insurance plays a vital role in health care, is a subscription-based business involving a panel of doctors, paramedical staff, diagnostics laboratories and drug supply chains to help patients control the pace of disease progression and enable faster recovery.
Medybiz executives will approach patients at their homes, offering comprehensive packages for disease management, including medical advice, diagnostics, follow-up treatment and medicine supplies. The home-based services will be based on an annual subscription.
Medybiz, which will also offer lifestyle health management services, says it has already appointed 120 executives to sign up subscribers and expects to add 280 more in the next two months, according to a person familiar with the development.
“Our teams of medical specialists are currently finalising the home-based disease management services to address various chronic ailments,” a Medybiz spokesman said. “These home-based programmes have been designed to help people change unhealthy lifestyles that lead to chronic diseases, improve self-care skills during an illness and make cost-effective healthcare decisions.”
The disease management service is in addition to Reliance’s ambitious plans for its health care business. It already runs medical insurance and hospital businesses.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) projects that by 2015, India will face an estimated annual loss in national income of $54 billion on account of chronic diseases. This will rank India as the second-fastest growing health risk economy after China.
Medybiz is finalising its home-based disease management programmes to address chronic ailments such as cancer and diabetes, orthopaedic disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and respiratory disorders such as asthma, the same person familiar with the development said.
Reeni Edward Kennedy, a housewife in a northern suburb in Mumbai, who has subscribed to the Medybiz service, said proper and strict administration of health care services in the comfort of a patient’s home facilitates quicker rehabilitation and recovery.
“Though we want quality service and continuous monitoring, we are price-sensitive. Therefore, it will purely depends on what Medybiz is going to charge us,” she said.

Source: Livemint