The Indian diaspora (more than 17 million as per the UN in Sept 2019) have always been dependent on family and friends when it comes to arranging medical help for their parents in India. Now with more families than ever relocating for work and economic reasons, NRIs are finding it difficult to rely on their relatives. Covid-19 has further increased the problem as extended families avoid visiting each other. This has pushed NRIs to turn into long-distance caregivers.
While there have been a few attempts to build a platform for remote access to the Indian healthcare system, there is no perfect solution that provides a holistic approach. NRIs are struggling to choose the right medical provider, compare prices, coordinate services on the ground as well as get reports and test results. A number of devoted daughters and sons have expressed the feeling that they’re missing out on important family time while trying to arrange medical and healthcare services.
ParentCare has been developed to break the barriers to long-distance caregiving. Founded by an NRI and mentored by an Indian medical doctor, this startup aims to ensure peace of mind and maximise quality family time for all Indian expats and their families.
ParentCare runs as a concierge service, an online platform and on-the-ground support. The platform and concierge service give the control back in the hands of the NRIs by letting them choose the right service at the right cost:
- Book doctor consultations and diagnostic tests,
- Order medicines and elderly care products,
- Arrange a home care attendant or nurse,
- Complement the above with personalised services of booking cabs, accompanying parent to the doctor, store digital healthcare records before travelling abroad, medical & travel insurance and other such services to provide a holistic approach to caregiving.
The ParentCare team on-the-ground manages the selected services, confirming the service standards have been met.
The company recently raised a seed fund from Deepbridge Capital, UK and Nova, UK; both UK based healthcare-focused entities. While building the platform during the lockdown, the team arranged medicines from India for elderly Indian citizens stuck in the UK due to the coronavirus restrictions.
With both subscription and pay-per-use options available, ParentCare looks at motivating NRIs to provide care not only during medical emergencies but on a regular basis.
