The trend is very obvious. Countries are fast moving away from institutional care to home health care where support is provided in a home environment. There is a huge increase in emphasis and demand for home care than ever before. Change in social structures like the breakdown of the joint family system, technological advances, restructured health systems have all brought about this health care shift.
Home health care (HHC) is a professional, formal care provided by trained care workers making it possible for people to remain in the familiar comfort of their homes during the period of treatment rather than inside the white-tiled walls of hospital rooms. These services have now expanded from medical or physiological care to companionship, nursing care, personnel care, rehabilitation and more. It becomes integral in post-hospitalisation recovery and of course in care for the elderly. Societal shifts, mushrooming of nuclear families have made home care services vital in the case of single parents, spinsters , parents alone at home with children abroad or out of station, working couples who have parents and/or children at home.
Kevin Lewis is a pioneer in the field. The CEO of Caremark International UK, is one of the most experienced and successful franchisor in the home care sector. His established and highly rated service company provides home care to over 70 regions including England, Scotland, Ireland and Malta. Caremark recently opened its first franchisee in India at Kochi. India, Kevin reasons, is ‘his ultimate vision’ for the country with its size of population and provides the ‘potential for 1,000 Caremark offices across India, each one operating on a non-profit basis providing care and support for anyone of any age irrespective of whether they can afford it or not.’
According to WHO India today has a huge deficit of beds in hospitals. In fact, despite the rising awareness and growth of the health sector the country would still fall short of 12,000 hospitals. In such a scenario the home health care system provides a relief. And the hospitals have also realised this. India’s demographic structure has rapidly moved from a predominantly young to an increased aging population owing to longer life expectancies. This aging population is often forgotten.
“Since 2005 we have been providing care for the people in their homes. In England 50 per cent of the care is funded by the clients, while the rest of the half is funded by the government. That’s not available in India and that’s why I’m here. The demographic effects are the same anywhere in the world. Many people back home warned me that India is going to be tough and that it is different. India is certainly different but the care is not. The need for care and support is not different whether you are in India, England or China. Nor does it change depending on race or culture. The needs are similar.”
Kevin got into this field in 1987 when he set up a rest home in Brighton. He was a property developer when a lovely house and the estate around caught his fancy. He decided to buy it for himself and set up a retirement home. “An 80-year-old lady was the first to walk in and she changed my life. I began to care for her and realised the need for such services in England and beyond.”
The success of the business led to social services inviting him to diversify into the provision of home care. Rapid growth followed and his business soon became a major provider in the area.
“The retirement home or the old age home concept will not survive long term. That’s because individuals, all of us, as we get older we prefer to stay in our own homes. We don’t want to be taken away from somewhere we have been living independently all our life and put into an institution. It is an antiquated way of doing things.” The home care services market in the country is largely unorganised and controlled by local agencies. “Let me tell you that the skill sets of the Indian care workers are much better than what I have seen in England. They need to be trained and that’s what we do. We have developed a training module and we ensure that the quality of care is delivered at all times. We have launched in India and we need thousands of care workers, care givers, support workers. Their main qualification is to be genuinely caring to their fellow human beings. We don’t want them to have Masters or university degrees.”
There are a couple of professional home care services in the country but most of them in Tier I or Tier II cities. Caremark’s Kochi launch has the backing of Dr. Jacob Roy, chairman of Alzheimer ’s Disease International and founder of Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society India.
“Let me assure you that I’m not going to take a rupee out of the Indian operations. For now, to fulfil numerous formalities it has been registered as a private limited company. I have given the team in Kochi six months to make a profit and then we’ll turn this into a trust. Those who can afford the services and those who cannot will gain,” concludes Kevin.
