Listen: Portea CEO Meena Ganesh on Covid-19 related headwinds and tailwinds

Startups across the country have seen their growth projections in the financial year ended March 2020 go through unpredictable changes due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The healthtech space has not remained unaffected.

Home healthcare provider Portea Medical has seen a 10-15% revenue growth in the financial year as opposed to a pre-Covid-19 forecast of 30-40%, CEO Meena Ganesh told TechCircle.

“Initially, in the month of March when lockdown was just announced, we obviously struggled to figure out how to stabilise in a completely new environment. While the government had said that healthcare workers are allowed, it was not. It took a few weeks before things could be stabilised on the ground. We struggled both to move our people as well as to move medical equipment or medicines…” Ganesh said.

Since the virus has been declared a pandemic, the startup has reworked its existing line of product offerings to combine teleconsultations services and remote monitoring patients at homes.

Additionally, it has tied up with state governments to provide free home isolation services for Covid-19 positive patients in a bid to free up hospital beds and intensive care units as well as reduce the burden on the healthcare system.

In the latest episode of TechCircle Dialogues, Ganesh talks about its products as well as India’s brimming healthcare system.

Ganesh also sheds light on the country’s National Health Stack.