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Consumer Behaviour

Notes

Caselet Lifeline

here are some things that even the well informed are ill informed about. Emergency
services, for example. Particularly ambulance services, and the life saving difference
Tthat speedy first aid and specialised equipment can make, enroute, when a critical
case is being rushed to hospital.
In a country where healthcare systems are overloaded and so many ‘essential services’ are
given to lethargy and fatalism, a highly efficient private sector player ought to find a neat
opportunity in providing reliable and high quality ambulance services. For a small annual
subscription fee, it could even run like an insurance plan – made viable by the idea of
using the pooled resources of many to help the few in need.
In 1997, Mohit Sagar, an Indian doctor returned from U.S to Delhi with the idea of starting
a network of emergency services on America’s famous ‘911’ pattern. After a quick survey
of Delhi, he set up Lifeline Services, the first of its kind in India, offering medical emergency
transportation services in the capital. The city’s hospitals had their own ambulances, but
Sagar found that these were overburdened and slow, often taking an hour to reach the
trouble spot. Also, their equipment was not as good as the best available in the developed
markets.
Quality had remained poor because nobody was ensuring stringent standards. Hospitals
were lax, and consumers who did use ambulances did so under such anxiety that they were
thankful just to get hold of a vehicle. Yet, demand was growing. At its launch, Lifeline
estimated that Delhi had an average monthly figure of 6000 emergency cases (including
road accidents), involving people with an ability to pay for ambulance services.
Lifeline decided to invest in a fleet of ambulances equipped with IV tubes, oxygen tanks
and masks, a defibrillator, combibag, oximeter, vacuum splint kit, ventilator, and a lung
resuscitator, apart from a mobile phone and CB wireless radio to co-ordinate activity with
hospital. The firm also hired a staff that included qualified paramedics and doctors to
accompany the patient to the hospital and administer first aid.

Simultaneously, it decided to send out a sales team to enrol families as subscribers. For an
annual fee of 1500, the subscriber was promised about four free trips for anyone in the
family (or otherwise), depending on the plan chosen. The pricing was steep, but the
justification was the service’s unique selling proposition (USP): a commitment to reach
the site within just 9 minutes.

Lifeline started operations in 1997 with about 25 ambulances, mostly Maruti Omni vans,
costing around 10 lakh each. The idea was to cover South Delhi first. About a year later,
it added 10 more vehicles. Staff costs were high, with 10 doctors and 25 paramedics on the
rolls, apart from two-three drivers per vehicle (working in shifts). To meet the brand
promise, the vehicles had to be placed at key junctions throughout Delhi – with Lifeline’s
call centre at Kalkaji, co-ordinating all movements and making arrangements over mobile
phone at the hospital specified by the customer.
It was an interesting idea. Lifeline enlisted about 350 subscribers at the onset, and saw the
number rising for at least a year after that. But 1999 saw a trail-off, and by the end of 2000,
Lifeline was off the hook – for good. The business had failed.

Source: A&M, September 30, 2001

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