Aster DM Healthcare announces Aster Finance Service Centre across all its existing 11 hospitals and upcoming 2 hospitals, in 5 states in India

Keeping in view the requirement of timely support for patients who visit the hospitals, Aster DM Healthcare today announced the launch of Aster Finance Service Centre which shall be providing the following services

1.      Aster Easy Care – This service has been developed in association with Bajaj Fin Serve and Federal Bank to provide patient funding which can be repaid in monthly instalments (EMIs) over a period of 1 year. The interest cost of the loan is borne by Aster DM Healthcare which is a great relief for patients who are struck by sudden illness or accidents and do not have the availability of sufficient money. Even in the case of elective surgeries, sometimes there would be a requirement for a substantial amount which may not be easily available for the patient. Aster Easy Care, which was launched in some of the Group hospitals in India as a test case, has been well accepted by patients.

2.      Crowd Funding Platforms – There are many patients who require a large amount of money for tertiary and quaternary care, including transplants. There are authentic Crowd Funding platforms with whom Aster DM Healthcare has been working with, in the last 5 years like the Milaap, Impact Guru etc., to meet the needs of people who can’t afford. The ease with which many deserving patients have got a significant amount through Crowd Funding on the internet opens up an avenue for poor and needy patients to get their genuine requirement for funding being met. The authenticated medical records along with the history of illness and relevant photos being posted by these Crowd Funding Platforms usually produces an excellent response from kind-hearted people over the internet. Aster Finance Service Centre will support this end to end fundraising campaign for the deserving patients.

3.      Charity – Aster DM Foundation and Dr. Moopen’s Family Foundation provide support to deserving needy and poor patients for the full or partial subsidy, which shall now be channelized through Aster Finance Service Centre. The Aster Volunteers Global Programme which is the CSR arm of Aster DM Healthcare will also use internal and external resources for funding needy patients. 

The hospitals include Aster Medcity Kochi, Aster MIMS Calicut, Aster MIMS Kottakkal, Aster CMI Hospital Bengaluru, Aster Aadhar Hospital Kolhapur, Aster Prime Hospital Hyderabad, Aster Ramesh Hospital Guntur, Aster Ramesh Hospital Vijayawada, Aster Ramesh Hospital MG Road, Aster Ramesh Hospital Ongole, DM WIMS Wayanad and upcoming two hospitals- Aster Hospital Kannur and Aster RV Hospital Bengaluru.

Speaking about the initiative, Dr Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare said, “Aster Financial Service Centre is launched to take care of the financial requirements of needy patients who struggle when a large amount for treatment is required. The AFSC is a single window, a hassle-free service being introduced for the first time in India. The philosophy behind starting this is to make sure that a patient who is coming to our hospitals must be treated if there is a bed or investigation slot available, through the various services offered through the Centre.”

Explaining the module and process of work, Dr Harish Pillai, CEO- Aster Hospitals & Clinics, India said, “Once their financial requirement is established, the family of the patient or the patient themselves will be guided to a bouquet of unique services on offer ranging from interest free loans to innovative crowd funding options. This is our effort to lower and minimise entry financial barriers to access quality healthcare for all, across the vast expanding network across India.”