Manipal Health Enterprises Ltd, the healthcare arm of Manipal Group, has entered into a strategic partnership with the Bangalore-based healthcare startup Portea Medical Pvt Ltd to offer post-operative care to patients at their homes, according to a press release.
Manipal Health Enterprises already has a home medical services unit called Manipal Homecare, which it launched in 2010. The association with Portea, which will now manage Manipal Homecare, will help it scale up the business.
Manipal Homecare will now offer a range of services including post-operative care, physiotherapy, sample collection for laboratory testing, nursing services, mobile dialysis, chemotherapy and palliative care for terminally ill patients. Services like post-surgical care, cancer care, and neuro-rehab services will also be offered.
Manipal Health declined to comment on the financial arrangements of the deal but said it is not a formal JV.
“Working with Portea will enable us to extend our reach and add specialty areas in the months to come. In addition, Portea’s wide network will also benefit our patients who visit us from different parts of the country,” H Sudarshan Ballal, medical director &chairman – Medical Advisory Board, at Manipal Health.
Manipal Health operates 16 hospitals in six Indian states and one in Malaysia with a total of 5,200 beds.
Meena Ganesh, CEO, Portea Medical, said, “We are delighted to work together with Manipal Hospitals to deliver services that have a direct and hugely positive effect on the convenience and comfort of patients and their family members. We look forward to supporting Manipal Hospitals in extending the home care offering to other specialty areas as well.”
Portea provides healthcare services at home across 18 cities in India, with a focus on delivering medical care for elders, patients suffering from chronic diseases, and post-operative care.
Founded by Zachary Jones and Karan Aneja, Portea provides doctors, nurses and physiotherapists for home visits across the country. Last year it was acquired by serial entrepreneurs and strategic investors Krishnan Ganesh and his wife Meena, as part of their plans to foray into the primary healthcare services space.
Krishnan and Meena have successfully started and exited four companies. The couple’s first venture, IT&T, was acquired by iGATE while the second initiative, Customer Asset, was bought by FirstSource (erstwhile ICICI OneSource). The third venture, called Marketics, was sold to WNS and the fourth one, TutorVista, was acquired by the British media group Pearson Plc.
Portea had raised Rs 48 crore ($8 million) from Accel Partners and Ventureast in its Series A funding last December. Early this year Qualcomm Ventures, the venture investment arm of Qualcomm Inc, invested an undisclosed amount in Portea.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
