Nursing bureaus provide home services for looking after sick patients. These mainly include aid in the form of nurses, brothers, mavshis, etc. for post-hospitalisation care for patients. Different nursing bureaus are operational in big cities. Vaishali and Vinayak Vedpathak started this service in Kothrud, Pune in 1999. After completing 12th standard, Vaishali studied nursing in KEM hospital in Mumbai. After completing this education, she worked for 6 years in different hospitals in Mumbai and Pune. She got to know more about the nursing bureau concept while working in Pune. Since the returns of running a nursing bureau were higher than the salary earned in a hospital, she decided to work for a nursing bureau.
Having worked in a bureau for a few years gave Vaishali the confidence of starting one of her own. She was aware that through her bureau, she would have to take the responsibility of looking after people and taking care of them in their old age. She had also realised during her working years that money comes secondary to people when they’re getting quality health care. She founded her own bureau with the experience and credibility she had gained. She has 315 employees in her bureau today, which includes 30 nurses, 20 brothers, more than 40 ward boys, over 180 mavshis and 20 physiotherapists. They provide services in Pune, Mumbai, Goa and if need be, even in other states.
Bureau provides services to senior citizens keeping in mind the practical difficulties of urban families
With the increasing necessity for working and owing to the nuclear nature of families, the question of looking after senior citizens has arisen. We also know that having an ailing person at home affects the entire atmosphere of the home. In such situations, patients need to be cared for at home even after hospitalisation. Family members are more likely to be irritated with people who cannot perform daily household activities or look after themselves due to old age. These people at least have some distractions and can lead an easier life in villages but when confined to the four walls of urban homes, it becomes a difficult task. The nursing bureau understands these practical difficulties and tries to share the load of the other family members through their services.
Our employees are even willing to provide 24/7 care if required
Services portfolio - The services offered by the nursing bureau are classified based on the areas of responsibility. This service ensures that the patients are taken good care of at home rather than having them admitted to the hospital for a long time.
Nurses/brothers – The same work carried out by nurses/brothers in hospitals is carried out in home services, e.g. administering saline, giving injections, monitoring BP and sugar, administering enema, measuring out medicines according to doctor’s instructions, giving patient-related updates to doctors and deciding the treatment strategy as per requirement. The nurses and brothers are willing to provide service for any number of hours, even up to 24 hours if need be. They earn a salary of Rs.800 to 1200 per day.
Mavshis / ward boys – Changing patients’ diapers, cleaning the linen, giving haircuts or shaving in case of male patients, sponging and bathing patients, helping patients’ relatives in household chores fall under the scope of their work. Even if this work seems to be unhygienic or disgusting, doing service forms the basis of this work and mavshis and ward boys carry out this work properly. They earn a salary of Rs. 500-600 per day. If you leave aside the employees’ salaries and certain medical devices, running a bureau is a profitable business.
Some points to remember for maintaining the credibility of the person working
To maintain the credibility – often times, we feel insecure with a stranger working in our house – be it domestic help or nurses/brothers looking after patients. Due to the restrictions during the pandemic, a lot of people had to give up work. But the nursing bureaus had a different experience. More and more people contacted nursing bureaus for patient care services. Vaishali says that following three things is mandatory to maintain the credibility of the people working.
1) Ensuring that all valuables in the house are in their proper place. Valuables should ideally not be kept easily visible to the working persons.
2) Not having any separate transactions directly with the working persons beyond the agreement with the nursing bureau.
3) Checking the bags/purses of the working persons before and after work. Vaishali says that following these 3 things is essential for maintaining their credibility.
As compensation for the service rendered till the end, a patient transferred his home in Vaishali’s name
While reminiscing in bittersweet memories - the feeling of being able to serve people is very gratifying. It is also necessary to note down these bittersweet experiences. One such experience is very close to her heart. Prakash Tokekar’s wife, residing in Karve Nagar was suffering from terminal cancer. Because her body used to smell, none of her family members was willing to even go close to her. In such a situation, Vaishali served her for more than 2 years. Prakash Tokekar was witness to the care that Vaishali took of his wife till her last breath. After a while, even he took to illness and Vaishali was once again there to help him in her fullest capacity. As compensation for her help, Prakash Tokekar transferred his house in Vaishali Vedpathak’s name. This is testimony to Vaishali’s honest service in times of someone’s need.
The second experience is of an elderly lady from a patient care centre (old age home) started by the Vedpathak couple. An elderly lady who had worked as domestic help for 45-50 years was brought to this old age home in her old age. Even after coming here, she started looking after patients. She felt at home here. Because of her extremely responsible nature, her death left Vaishali feeling the void of a family member.
Knowing that our work proves to be support for someone in addition to earning us money is gratifying
One can only see satisfaction on Vaishali’s face after having provided this service to thousands of households in Pune. “No doubt we offer this service against money, but that it also proves to be a good support for someone, is what makes us feel satisfied”, says Vaishali. People from various fields like literature, politics, entrepreneurs, celebrity, etc. have asked for our service. She also admits getting to learn a lot from them.
Firm backing from the family – The entire Vedpathak family is dedicated to this service. Vaishali and Vinayak’s son Vaibhav and his wife Vedika co-run the nursing bureau and the old age home. Looking at his parents’ devotion and passion for treating patients, Vaibhav also completed a course in nursing. From a very young age, he started attending to the sick by spending time with them to keep them company. The entire Vedpathak family is devoted to caring for 315 healthcare attendants and 20 senior citizens in the old age home.
More and more senior citizens will require accompaniment services in the coming years
Accompaniment services are just as important as nursing services. A lot of senior citizens require someone to keep them company rather than for health reasons. They need someone around for tasks like reminding them to take medicines, making them tea, switching the TV on or running errands. They are willing to pay a good amount for these tasks being carried out for them. The number of such senior citizens is going to rapidly increase in the coming years. This is an earning opportunity for self-employed as well as entrepreneurs.
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