Business Oxygen (BO2), a private equity fund backed by International Finance Corporation (IFC) to support small and medium enterprises in Nepal, said Monday it has invested $500,000 in MedPro International.
MedPro, which is led by cardiac surgeon and healthcare entrepreneur Bishal Dhakal, runs a venture under the banner of Health at Home Nepal. Established in 2007, it is an out-of-the-hospital healthcare service provider.
The company provides a range of care services for patients, from general nursing care to critical care for severely ill patients and long-term, chronically ill patients. It also offers counselling for patients, physiotherapy services and monthly prescription-drug delivery.
Dhakal said the firm has over 10,000 people in its network and plans to use the money raised to add a digitisation component to the business.
“We started operations much before some of the well-known Indian names came into the picture and have always been profitable. We are also looking at collaboration and exploring if we can expand into some markets in India, especially Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,” he said.
Dhakal added that the firm has recorded a spike of 600-700% in demand because of Covid-19 and expects to double its annual revenue over the next few years. It may also look at another round of funding in two-three years.
Siddhant Raj Pandey, chairman and CEO of BO2, said that healthcare at home is a novel concept in Nepal that MedPro has tapped into. “Before this service commenced operations, after-care services once the patient left the hospital were not readily available in an institutional capacity. With BO2 funding MedPro will be able to expand its services to other Provinces in Nepal along with enhancing its poly-clinic services and health care services.”
BO2 is the first International SME venture and climate impact fund in Nepal promoted by IFC, the UK government’s The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Climate Investment Funds’s Pilot Program for Climate Resilience and WLC Ventures.
Nepal is one of the world’s poorest countries with nearly half of the population living below the poverty line. Besides socio-economic factors and the mountainous terrain, susceptibility to natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and landslides as well as armed insurgencies also make delivery of healthcare a challenging endeavour.
Source : The Capital Quest