Start-up fights COVID-19: Health-tech startup Meddo launches free Covid care facilities in Gurugram
A recent surge in coronavirus disease cases continues to plague India and choke its healthcare system. A fragile and fragmented healthcare system is buckling. Hospitals have been overwhelmed and have had to turn away scores of patients. There aren’t enough beds. There is an acute need for all kinds of medical supplies.
Nations around the world have been rushing to help India alleviate the COVID-19 crisis.
Indian startups are also doing their best to help control the deadly situation.
Gurugram-based health-tech startup Meddo launched its COVID-19 L1 care facilities
Meddo Health, which recently partnered with ICMR authorized labs for COVID-19 tests, is now offering free Coronavirus testing in Gurugram after the Supreme Court ordered both government and private laboratories to conduct tests for free. The decision to provide free Coronavirus testing has been announced by the founder of Meddo, Saurabh Kocchar. The aim is to help patients in the initial stage to avoid further deterioration, which leads to the need for ICUs and hospital care.
Three different health centres L1, L2 and L3 have been categorized by the government, with L1 catering to non-critical patients, while L2 and L3 will deal with more arduous and critical COVID-19 cases. Meddo in association with Treebo will be setting up these L1 Covid care centres with up to 150 beds. Currently, 25 rooms with a capacity to accommodate 40 to 50 patients are operational at the Treebo hotel. These facilities will be equipped with doctors, nurses, and oxygen concentrators to make sure that the need for hospitalisation comes down.
"The major challenge that we are facing right now is getting access to concentrators. While other medical needs for the patients are already available at care facilities, we are looking for leads to purchase or import concentrators," Saurabh kocchar said.
Meddo was launched in 2018 by Saurabh, Former Foodpanda CEO, and Dr Naveen Nishchal, Co-founder of Cygnus Hospitals, to organise the ambulatory services sector in India.
The startup aims to revamp the way healthcare is provided in our country, starting with out-patient care. They aim to support hospital infrastructure “as much as possible”. To ensure this, the care facilities will be available for free to patients right now; the operations will be funded by Meddo Foundation. In January, the startup raised $3 million in an extended pre-Series A round led by Picus Capital and SRI Capital.
