Business Ideas in Romania

Will you take Grandma to her appointment, dear?

• Posted by Sara on September 19th, 2007 filed in Health and safety, Services, Transportation

Opportunity: Non-emergency medical transportation

At a previous job with a medical services company, I was astounded to see how many elderly people forgot the basics of medical care because the transportation is too difficult to arrange. An ambulance is much too sophisticated for their non-emergency needs, but a regular taxi will not accommodate them either. Their children are too busy to spend countless hours at hospitals and pharmacies.

In many countries these services are packaged with health insurance. While the CNAS now provides significant funding for homecare services (see the medical services package), this does not cover transportation. Existing organizations, such as Crucea Alb-Galbena or Nursing Medica, focus on medical services provided at the patient’s home, not transportation.

This provides an opportunity for a niche business servicing the transportation needs of the elderly. A small number of minivans could be set up to accommodate wheelchairs and staffed by friendly personnel with basic training in negotiating hospital environments. The company could offer to close agreements with the adult children of their clients, who can cover all costs on a pre-payment basis.

The company could either partner with or expand into other services to the mobility needs of the elderly, such as grocery shopping, paying bills, etc.