Indian ambulances are getting an upgrade with more organized players

Maharashtra’s hinterland, for example, is set to get a major medical upgrade, with the state government partnering with Sumeet-SSG – a joint venture between Pune-based Sumeet Group Enterprises and Spanish emergency transport provider SSG Matrix – to deploy a fleet of 1,756 state-of-the-art ambulances to make.

Maharashtra is just one example. The country’s ambulance sector is seeing a shift towards organized ambulance players and also improvements in the quality of ambulance service, with key start-ups entering the segment.

The joint venture – with an investment of 51% from Sumeet-SSG and 49% from the Government of Maharashtra – will begin rollout before the end of 2024 to implement its ‘Maharashtra Emergency Medical Services’ (MEMS) 108 ambulance project by the end To be completed by 2024. middle of next year.

108 ambulance project

“The deployment of the fleet is likely to be completed by mid-2025,” said Summit Salunke, vice chairman of Sumeet Group Enterprises.

The Indian ambulance sector is largely unorganized but is growing steadily. According to a report by consultancy firm Primus Partners, the Indian ambulance market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1% during 2024-2028.

However, the report notes that the sector still lacks specialist healthcare services. Of the 17,495 ambulances currently operational, only 3,441 are Advanced Life Support (ALS) units. These units have advanced equipment for critical patient care, such as cardiac monitors and ventilators. Basic Life Support (BLS) units make up a large portion of existing fleets and focus on immediate care such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

More organized players have emerged in the segment in recent years.

Red.Health

Founded in 2016, Hyderabad-based startup Red.Health has partnered with over 100 hospitals, including leading chains like Apollo and Fortis. The company provides ambulance services and operates hospital emergency call centers in over twenty cities in India.

Red.Health has more than 200 ALS units in its fleet of 400 ambulances, said Prabhdeep Singh, the company’s CEO and founder. Mint. In May, the company raised $20 million in its Series B funding. The capital is used to expand its fleet and focus on advancing their fleet technology and improving their response times. Red.Health has many customers in both hospitals and individual patients. “More and more patients and hospitals are realizing that unorganized operators are leading to many problems,” Singh said. “So the independent or unorganized operators will be blacklisted,” he added.

Another Hyderabad-based startup TEN, founded in 2022, works as an ambulance aggregator. It has almost 450 small-scale ambulance personnel on its platform and works with more than 25 hospitals in 6 cities.

As an aggregator, the company aims to standardize services and address operational issues such as slow response times, but profitability remains a concern.

TEN ambulance aggregator

“We are burning money right now,” said Kishore Manepalli, CEO and founder of TEN Mint. However, the company is in advanced talks for a second round of financing. The start-up was secured in 2023 ₹1.5 crore in its angel funding round. Manepalli said the company aims to become profitable in the next 12 to 18 months.

Red.Health’s Singh said the company is operationally profitable. “We are on the path to Ebitda profitability,” he said. “The mission is to serve patients at almost no cost and subsidize them through hospital partnerships.” Ebitda is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Salunke did not respond to the profitability question, saying: “It is a fixed service fee model billed to the government.”