The fund will be used to establish tele-ICUs in five Indian states
SAMRIDH Healthcare Blended Financing Facility has invested Rs 3.2 crore to Critical Care Hope to expand its tech-enabled tele-ICU platform in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. This investment will improve access to critical care services in tier-II and tier-III cities in these states.
SAMRIDH Healthcare is a multi-stakeholder financing platform supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by IPE Global. Through blended financing solutions, SAMRIDH offers grant and debt financing provisions to scale high-impact health solutions that can strengthen healthcare delivery in India. The investment will onboard 12 partner hospitals to deliver critical care services through the ‘Tele-ICU’ platform, which allows an intensivist to actively manage the needs of 60-80 ICU patients across multiple locations from a remote command centre.
Dr Shailesh Jhawar, Founder and Director, Critical Care Hope, said, “Technological innovations in healthcare are a must to bridge the gaps in our healthcare system and deliver value-based solutions to underserved areas.” With support from SAMRIDH, Critical Care Hope aims to scale its operations and continue to innovate and deliver last-mile clinical services.
The proposed hub-and-spoke model will create dedicated command centres called HOPES (Health Outcomes Focused Preventions and Evaluation System) in remote locations. Each HOPES centre will act as a centralised management hub for patients in need of critical care in remote sites. ICU specialists, advanced medical technologies, expertise, and local hospitals will come together on one platform, offering 24×7 monitoring of patients, collecting and analyzing data, and providing protocolled care and treatment interventions.
The collaboration between SAMRIDH and Critical Care Hope is aimed at bridging a significant gap in accessibility to quality healthcare services for small towns in India.
Himanshu Sikka, Project Director at SAMRIDH and Chief Strategy and Diversification Officer at IPE Global, said, “SAMRIDH’s partnership with Critical Care Hope reflects our continued focus on supporting impact-led businesses and scaling market-based solutions to solve complex and inherent challenges of the health systems. Through this collaboration, we aim to ensure timely intervention of critical care experts for patients in tier II, III and rural areas, where there are currently limited or no tertiary care centres.”
