INDIA: PlanMyMedicalTrip Expands

Indian medical travel platform PlanMyMedicalTrip gets investment boost to extend global network. Aims to make inroads into other potential medical tourism destinations such as Brazil, Thailand, Egypt, Germany and Dubai.

PlanMyMedicalTrip, a Pune-based start-up that offers international patients access to medical care at competitive prices, has raised Rs 1.25 crore from angel investors Bhanu Vikram Parsotam, Rohan Desai and Paras Patel.

The company intends to use the fresh capital to increase its network across the world, and target countries that it believes are rich with prospects for medical tourism such as Thailand, UAE, Brazil and Germany.

Launched in 2012, PlanMyMedicalTrip has 1500 tie-ups with hospitals and doctors in India and Turkey to provide services to international patients. The platform has treated over 3,000 patients since it launched in 2007 under the brand name Best Medical Centres.

PlanMyMedicalTrip aims to establish tie-ups with all hospitals across India along with making inroads into other potential medical tourism destinations such as Brazil, Thailand, Egypt, Germany and Dubai.

The founders are Dr. Rajeev Rane and his son Anurav Rane. Anurav Rane had a earlier medical travel platform that failed.

The platform guarantees medical services at an affordable price, and handholds the patient and the caregiver through the tedious process of shifting to a new city for treatment. It proactively helps them with arrangements including medical visas, hotel bookings, transfers and air ambulances.

The key target is Indians seeking care within India, so allows users to compare treatment costs across different city hospitals, so they can make a choice.

The platform follows a commission-based business model and charges a referral fee from hospitals. It does not charge the patients any fees.

The platform claims 15,000 – 20,000 monthly hits that generate 70 enquiries each day plus 50 to 100 queries offline on a daily basis

The main challenge has been bringing doctors onboard and convincing them about the idea. So it has high marketing and awareness costs. The new capital is needed for new marketing and to pay running costs.

The problem that all these platforms have is that it costs a lot of money to have a national and global profile to get site visits. So until commission income exceeds the monthly outgoings, capital is quickly used up. The net negative monthly cost-the burning cost- means that many online platforms run out of money before they get large enough to make money- so most disappear within a few years.