TaCa Healthcare, founded by Bidhan Chowdhury and Dr. Atul Peters in New Delhi, promises to reduce the cost of elective procedures by 30%.
Healthcare costs continue to be a big concern for the majority of people in India. Most patients avoid or postpone elective operations owing to inaccessibility and excessive treatment costs. Elective or general procedures are not life threatening and may usually be arranged at the patient’s convenience, although they might cause difficulties if not completed on time.
TaCa Healthcare, a healthcare company, claims to significantly reduce these surgical costs through an asset light approach that benefits both patients and physicians.
Bidhan Chowdhury and Dr. Atul Peters, who have known each other professionally for many years, formed the New Delhi-based firm in February of this year.
TaCa Healthcare has performed 60-70 procedures thus far, with ambitions to increase that number to more than 200 every month.
The founders founded the company because they thought the elective surgery market was poised for disruption in terms of pricing and service.
Bidhan, who has successfully ran healthcare establishments in the Middle East, felt compelled to try something new in the Indian healthcare sector. He claims that the current structure of a major hospital, particularly those in the private sector, prevents them from offering elective procedures at a cheaper cost.
This inspired them to establish TaCa Healthcare. The co-founders began with a $6 million first investment.
According to Bidhan, around 271 million elective operations are performed in India each year.
“One cannot lower expenses unless elective procedures are free of the grasp of huge institutions,” argues Bidhan.
According to Bidhan, some of these procedures may be completed in 15 minutes and do not necessitate a prolonged hospital stay.
However, some surgeons are not being used to their full capacity. Bidhan states that on average, surgeons only do 10-15 procedures every month.
Given this climate, TaCa Healthcare is eager to rework the entire dynamics of the elective surgery segment in order to provide customers with cheap and quality service.
How does it work?
To draw patients to its platform, the business uses a variety of digital tools. It also features a panel of surgeons who will answer all of the patients’ questions. TaCa Healthcare has developed a concept in which it establishes smaller facilities to do these elective surgery, as well as a panel of surgeons.
Unlike a major hospital, the company does not need to invest in a costly operation theater (OT) to do these procedures, and it intends to rent OTs from smaller hospitals.
Bidhan believes that the firm can perform these elective procedures at prices comparable to Ayushman Bharat. According to him, a lap chole operation costs Rs 18,500 under the Ayushman Bharat plan, but can cost up to Rs one lakh in a private facility.
TaCa Healthcare offers short-stay elective operations such as gall bladder stone removal, hernia repair/removal surgery, appendix removal surgery, and so on.
The marketplace and the business model
According to an NITI Aayog research, the size of the surgical industry is expected to be approximately $100 billion, with close to 40% falling within the elective category. TaCa Healthcare commenced operations with 12 surgeons in New Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.
For the time being, the startup has a team of 50 people. TaCa Healthcare will focus on getting people on the platform who want to pay in cash and those who are insured by insurance. The pitch for the cash group is that they can have the surgeries done at a low cost.
In the event of patients who have insurance, the company intends to contact the insurance companies and inform them that their payout would be cheaper if they use their platform rather than a huge hospital.
Because of the huge number of patients, the TaCa Healthcare model is especially advantageous to surgeons. According to Bidhan, doctors do not need to be concerned about the influx of patients and may concentrate solely on the surgical element.
Others in the elective surgery space, such as Glamyo and Pristyn Care, provide similar services. However, Bidhan maintains that TaCa Healthcare does not use an aggregator model in which patients and surgeons are purchased on a single platform, but rather controls the full setup from start to finish.
TaCa Healthcare intends to grow to 40-45 cities by the end of this year. It does not intend to raise any external investment in the foreseeable future since it wants to first develop its basis. The firm feels that it is still in its early stages, and that the main difficulty is to persuade prospective patients of their value offer.
