10BedICU
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A backgrounder
As in 2024
Yashaswini Sri, Sep 5, 2024: The Times of India
From: Yashaswini Sri, Sep 5, 2024: The Times of India
When 70-year-old Pratima Barman — a resident of Assam’s Nalbari village — started feeling unwell in 2023, her son Madhu initially thought it was a minor indisposition. But when she lost consciousness a few days later, it necessitated a visit to the taluka (district subdivision) hospital. The outcome was not something they had been prepared for. The family was advised to visit a better-equipped healthcare facility in state capital Guwahati for Pratima’s treatment. While they were pondering the daunting potential cost of travel and treatment, help came from a quarter they had least expected — an initiative called 10Bed ICU that had been recently launched in their village. The family, which was initially unaware of the ICU facility, are now all praises for the “lifesaving care” it provided Pratima.
“If not for this initiative, we could have lost our mother [while the family did not specify the nature of her illness, they said she had previously had a heart condition and hypertension]. The cost of travel to a private hospital and treatment there would have been financially draining for us,” Madhu said. In an effort to bridge the gap in critical care for those Indians who have long lacked it, 10BedICU is quietly bringing state-of-the-art intensive care units to taluka and district hospitals in areas where such facilities have been missing.
Since its inception in 2021, the initiative — led by Srikanth Nadhamuni, CEO of the startup incubator Khosla Labs — has made remarkable progress. Till date, over 200 10BedICUs have been established across India, including in states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Sikkim, impacting over 65,000 critical care patients, say the founders. Each unit is a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation, costing between Rs 50 and Rs 60 lakh to set up. The initiative uses a public-private partnership model that involves state govts, private funding, and community support.
The approach involves partnering with state govts, signing MoUs, and raising funds to equip hospitals with 10-bed ICU units. This model ensures sustainability and local ownership, critical factors in the long-term success of the initiative.
“We provide the infrastructure and tools, but maintenance is crucial for keeping these 10BedICUs operational. That’s why we involve the govt, offering them a well-designed plan to keep everything running smoothly,” says Nadhamuni, who also serves on the board of HDFC Bank. The former head of technology at UID Authority of India, where he established the Technology Center for developing and operating the Aadhaar system, Nadhamuni was also one of the co- founders of the eGovernments Foundation with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani. The latter has also been providing active support to Nadhamuni on the 10-bed ICU initiative.
Khosla Labs, which focuses on nurturing startups that leverage technology and entrepreneurial spirit to tackle major challenges, was started by Nadhamuni with Indian-American venture-capitalist Vinod Khosla.
From Crisis to Innovation
The genesis of the 10BedICU project lies in the chaos and trauma of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, which saw healthcare workers struggle to provide critical care amid an excessive patient load. Nadhamuni, who serves as the chairman of the 10BedICU project, vividly recalls the moment of inception.
“During the Delta wave [the intense second wave of the pandemic], I was inundated with calls from Bengaluru, all desperate pleas for ICU beds. The situation was dire, with people everywhere struggling to find beds,” says Nadhamuni. The crisis also painfully revealed the lack of basic ICU facilities in many rural areas, including at taluka and even district hospitals, he adds.
This realisation spurred
Nadhamuni and his team into action. The first 10BedICU was established in Telangana. At the core of the initiative is a sophisticated tech infrastructure designed to enhance patient care and streamline operations. ‘CARE’, a cloud-based software developed specifically for the project, manages patient and doctor records, ensuring seamless information flow and data-driven decision-making.
One of the most innovative aspects of the initiative is Telehub, a concept that plays a crucial role in connecting rural hospitals with district-level hubs. The integration of Generative AI is another groundbreaking feature, streamlining diagnostic processes and reducing the workload on doctors. The AI assistance allows medical professionals to focus more on patient care by simplifying tasks such as typing long diagnostic reports and discharge summaries. The Five Pillars of Success Nadhamuni says that the success of 10BedICU rests on five pillars — equipping the ICU, setting up cloud software, establishing Telehub, training medical staff, and gathering community support.
Bisoya Loitongbam, a social development and public policy expert who leads the management team of 10BedICU and serves as its director of programme implementation, says there has been a 70% reduction in patient transfers from taluka to district hospitals in areas where the initiative has been introduced, allowing patients to receive critical care closer to home.
The benefits are more deeply felt in remote areas. “In regions like ours, where the terrain makes travel challenging, 10BedICU has been a lifesaver for countless patients. It has brought critical care within reach for those to whom it was once inaccessible — something truly commendable,” says Dr Rakesh Nongthombam, associate professor, department of anaesthesiology and critical care, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), Manipur.
The Way Forward
One of the key strengths of 10BedICU is its ability to adapt to healthcare conditions and state policies across India. “Our initiative has met with success across states because of our emphasis on customisation,” says Nadhamuni. In Karnataka, for example, the focus might be on a systematic govt approach while in Nagaland, the emphasis could be on leveraging the medical community’s deep commitment to serving their people. By observing and adapting to these local strengths, the initiative has achieved success and similar results across various states.
The future of the project looks promising, with plans for significant expansion.
In Karnataka alone, there are plans to add 20 more hospitals. These will be connected to six medical colleges, which will serve as their hub points. Karnataka health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has been driving this expansion, says the 10BedICU team. “Our goal is to set up a 10BedICU in every part of the country,” says Nadhamuni.
