Narayana Health, VC firm W Health Ventures to launch cancer care clinics

The multispecialty hospital chain launched Everhope Oncology, a joint venture with healthtech-focused venture capital firm W Health Ventures and venture studio 2070 Health, with a seed investment of $10 million. Everhope will set up day-care centres across the country, starting with metro cities.

“We’re used to a very hospital-centric way of thinking about our business…we provide services in very intensive care settings with huge amounts of investment and infrastructure,” Viren Shetty, vice chairman at Narayana Health, told Mint in an interview. “But what ends up happening is the entire experience of getting cancer treatment becomes very intimidating.”

“Cancer is becoming so widespread that people are scared to even take the leap of coming to a hospital for treatment,” Shetty said. “What we’re trying with this is to separate it out from the hospital.”

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The joint venture will establish medical and surgical cancer care facilities in Delhi and Mumbai, and plans to expand to 10 cities in the next three years. These centres, which will have 10-20 beds on an average, will provide diagnosis, treatment, and supportive care for cancer patients, including chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and palliative care.

Rising cancer incidence

India’s rising cancer burden is a cause for concern, with an estimated 8 million people living with the disease in the country. According to a study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, one in nine Indians are likely to develop cancer in their lifetime. The study projected the incidence of cancer cases to rise about 12.8% in 2025 compared to 2020.

The country’s healthcare infrastructure is struggling to keep pace. “We’re not prepared as a healthcare system, we’re not prepared as a society,” Pankaj Jethwani, managing partner at W Health Ventures, said.

There is a significant opportunity for the expansion of dedicated cancer facilities. This growth is driven by rising patient volumes, the strong economic viability of single-specialty oncology centres, increasing entrepreneurial ambitions among oncologists, and greater awareness—enabling patients to seek the best treatment options upon diagnosis, Jethwani said.

Infra gap

The country needs 25,000 more surgical beds and 10,000-15,000 more daycare beds to address the growing cancer burden, according to estimates. Additionally, India is woefully short on talent. The country has only around 2,500 oncologists, just half of what is required given the disease burden, according to estimates by EY.

In this year’s Union Budget, the central government announced that it would set up 200 cancer care centres in district hospitals to address this. Mint reported earlier how this initiative, though promising, needs more intervention for infrastructure, technology and skilling.

Everhope Oncology aims to address the gaps by leveraging Narayana Health’s oncology expertise with technology, therapies and doctors.

“Right now, the biggest problem we’re trying to solve is access…we do not have enough doctors, but even for the doctors we have, there are huge barriers for patients coming to them,” Jethwani said.

“What we’re continuing to build is making it very simple for medical oncologists to practice at the top of their licence within the confines of the daycare centre and get the support they need from senior medical oncologists that may be sitting next to them,” he said.

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Reaching patients outside of the hospital is a natural shift for Narayana Health. “Coming with a very hospital-centric worldview, our thinking…is oriented around the worst possible scenarios,” Shetty said.

“As a large institution, we’re not agile enough to recognize that there are different business models out there. But we’re seeing the customers tell us [their preferences]. And we’ve already started doing a lot of this with our investment in clinics, with insurance, and with diagnostic centres,” he said. “A lot of hospitals are recognising that we have to cater to what the future customers will want.”