Expanding continuum healthcare in India with Sukino

Throughout India, an increasing number of patients with acute diseases need rehabilitative care. The country accounts for ~10% of the global stroke cases annually, a number rising steadily due to structural health and lifestyle factors such as obesity, sedentary habits, hypertension, stress, and air pollution. Each patient typically requires six to eight weeks of multimodal rehabilitative care post-procedure, including physical, speech, occupational, and psychological therapy. However, hospital-based rehab remains largely inaccessible due to high daily costs and limited insurance coverage thus far, making extended stays financially unviable.

Structurally, India’s healthcare system is increasingly misaligned to provide such care, with major hospitals optimizing for higher revenues and shorter patient stays. This leads to the deprioritization of patients who need longer rehabilitation stays, as these patients can have an adverse effect on revenue.

Sukino is bridging the gap for extended care critical for patients with acute diseases who need longer-term rehabilitative services, such as patients affected by strokes, cancer, and orthopedic conditions. Sukino provides structured, affordable recovery support that enables patients to lead fuller lives during rehabilitation.

Apart from the lack of incentive and capacity for larger hospitals to retain patients needing rehabilitation, Sukino’s relevance in the market is aided by two economic and cultural tailwinds:

• A proliferation of insurance coverage that extends beyond hospital care to include rehab care as well. Many health plans have begun covering 60 to 90 days of structured recovery. This leads to a lowering of out-of-pocket costs and improves access to quality care
• Families are becoming more comfortable with institutional recovery. Traditionally, there has been low social acceptance of family members receiving out-of-home recovery care following an illness. Now, patients and their loved ones are starting to recognize the beneficial outcomes from specialized facilities.

This is why we’re excited to be leading Sukino’s $31 million Series B, backing founders Rajinish Menon (CEO) and Shalini Menon (Director). Founded in 2016, Sukino today operates 850+ beds across eleven centers in Bangalore, Kochi, and Coimbatore. These are strategically located between major hospitals and residential hubs. Sukino centers primarily cater to the needs of stroke patients, but also admit people who need rehabilitation for neurological, orthopedic, and oncology conditions. This support is provided through both in-facility and managed home care models in a cost-effective, protocol-driven, and reliable manner.

The operations of each center are built on a structured, multidisciplinary model that ensures continuity of care throughout the patient journey. From the initial visit, a cross-functional team of caregivers, nurses, physiotherapists, dieticians, psychologists, and doctors develops a personalized, comprehensive continuum care plan to guide the inpatient experience. Each center follows a standardized, protocol-driven approach emphasizing high-touch, measurable care. This rigorously implemented, team-based model enables both high-quality outcomes and operational consistency, ensuring a consistent and superior patient experience across centers.

Our belief in Sukino is rooted in our conviction that accessible, long-term healthcare is the next big unlock for Indian healthcare. We believe that organized single-specialty chains are uniquely positioned to deliver superior outcomes in India’s fragmented healthcare market. We look forward to what lies ahead for Rajinish, Shalini, and the team at Sukino as they expand access to care.