Banchbo Healing Touch Initiatives
Banchbo Healing Touch is eastern India’s first 24-hour helpline to cater to the medical problems of senior citizens. Dr Dhires Kumar Chowdhury founded Banchbo when he was a medical student about 15 years ago with friends in Garia and with the patronage of Dr Sudipto Sen, the then director of Woodlands Hospital. As an attending doctor, he found the elderly in need of not just medical help but love and care. Nuclear families and the hectic pace of life in urban India have isolated the old. Banchbo Healing Touch was born as an organisation on the 1st January, 2007 with valuable guidance and active support from Dr. A. K. Roy Choudhury (Chief Medical Advisor) and many more other eminent doctors to provide medical attention at the patient's home, while monitoring their progress on a regular basis.
Banchbo healing touch initiative provides a package of medical services for the elderly in and around South Kolkata for an annual membership fee of 
1,800 for primary member and 1,500 for other members. The annual fee drops from 1,800 to 1,500 after the first year.
Our Services At A Glance
- Three complimentary general checkups at home.
- One complimentary specialist checkup.
- Twice a year complimentary pathological test.
- Two complimentary ECGs.
- Ambulance at nominal charges.
- Computerized medical history.
- 24 X 7 dedicated call-center.
- Counseling.
- Medical Consultation & allied services (Admission, diagnostic services etc.) at low rates.
- Provision of home delivery of medicines
- Recreational activities for members.
Currently, Banchbo caters to members in Garia to Gariahat, Kasba, Golpark, Tollygunge, Rajpur Bansdroni and Naktala. However, of late, there is a demand from residents in Behala and New Alipore too.
All emergency calls are attended by a nurse, and an on-call doctor with an ambulance equipped with basic medicine and basic portable medical equipments i.e. ECG, CBG, Pulse Oxymeter, Nebulizer and oxygen cylinder. In case of hospitalisation, a member gets a 5 - 10% discount on bed charges, 20 - 25% discount on pathological tests, and 15 - 20% on machine tests at diagnostic centers that Banchbo has tie-ups with.
Members are provided a detailed medical history and identity card indicating the salient features of their medical condition. Banchbo healing touch has seven doctors on call. Around forty specialist senior doctors are also empanelled for their services, and a patient can avail of a 20 - 25% discount on every consultation with these doctors at their chambers. Although the services are not free, many senior citizens have opted for Banchbo healing touch mainly because geriatric problems are rarely catered to so holistically in India.
Recently two reputed organisation, 'Tollygunge Home' and 'The Peace' tie up with Banchbo healing touch for getting medical support for their boarders.
