OYO Founder Ritesh Agarwal to Set Up 5 Healthcare Centers in Odisha

These centres, operated by the healthtech startup Last Mile Care, will cover regions with limited access to healthcare facilities, focusing on bridging the healthcare services gap that affects marginalised populations.

Ritesh Agarwal, the founder of homegrown multinational hotel chain startup, OYO has planned to establish five healthcare centres for the underprivileged in Odisha over the next year as a part of its CSR initiative.

These centres, operated by the healthtech startup Last Mile Care, will cover regions with limited access to healthcare facilities, focusing on bridging the healthcare services gap that affects marginalised populations.

The first centre – the Ramesh and Bela Agarwal Healthcare Center– was inaugurated in his hometown, Rayagada. The centre is named after his parents, the late Ramesh Agarwal and Bela Agarwal.

These centres will offer free doctor consultations for the first three months and discounted treatment and medicine during the first six months. The services include preventive care, primary healthcare services, treatment for minor illnesses, affordable medication, and digital health record facilities. In addition to this, each such centre will have a team of doctors with specialisation in gynaecology, eye diseases and heart diseases. Furthermore, a pharmacy will also be available to offer complete healthcare solutions to patients.

What Drove the Change?

Known for this flourishing hospitality business under the brand OYO, Agarwal seeks to ensure quality medical services become accessible to everyone, especially the underprivileged with this move. He aims to achieve this by collaborating with healthcare providers, tech innovators, policymakers, and communities.

"As we navigate the ever-evolving healthcare landscape, collaboration between healthcare providers, tech innovators, policymakers, and communities is paramount. By fostering an environment conducive to innovation and investing in initiatives such as these, we are doing our bit to ensure that quality medical services become accessible to everyone," Agarwal said.

By making these services available and affordable, Ritesh Agarwal hopes to improve the health and well-being of the communities in Odisha. This initiative reflects his commitment to social responsibility and his desire to give back to his home state, said the company.

Founded in 2019, Last Mile Care is a healthtech startup. It operates assisted telemedicine centres, also known as 1Care Clinics, that offer professional teleconsultation, referral service, affordable medicines, diagnostic services, health financing and insurance products. Notably, Last Mile Care already operates 13 such centres across India.

Its presence in Odisha, however, is limited to one facility in Tandipur village in Odisha developed in partnership with OYO Care, the CSR wing of OYO. The Ramesh and Bela Healthcare Center in Rayagada is a larger facility with more amenities and technological support.

In a similar development, healthcare provider LifeSigns partnered with hospitals to expand critical healthcare access to Rural India. As per the initiative, LifeSigns will deploy their AI-powered 24x7 remote patient monitoring technology using a ‘hub & spoke model’.

This ensures continuous streaming of patient data to doctors and healthcare professionals, even when the patient is at home, in the ambulance, or at the hospital.