Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 29 Disillusioned by the corporate world, the 800 IT professionals, who were laid off by US-based CorroHealth earlier this year, have together opted for the cooperative model to launch a healthcare IT and medical coding venture.
The proposed Health Care IT and Revenue Cycle Co-operative Society has applied for registration and has sought the Cooperation Department’s support in expediting the process, Jijy Philip, a Kochi-based cooperative consultant, said.
Philip said that he and the promoters of the cooperative society met state Cooperation Minister M M Liju here on Thursday and submitted the project report.
“The minister responded positively, and we hope to get the licence soon. We have already lined up several clients, and as soon as we get the licence, we can enter into Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with them, which will bring us work,” he said.
In fact, it was Philip’s brainchild to form a cooperative to bring together all the 800 former employees of CorroHealth’s Keralam divisions in Kochi and Kozhikode, which had shut down operations in July this year.
“While the employees were protesting against the abrupt shutdown, I went and spoke to them and asked them about their plans for the future. But none of them, at that time, had a clear idea of what they would do next”.
“So, I told them that I have a proposal for them and we can discuss it after their protests are over and they get a compensation package from the company,” Philip, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Unified Advantage Consulting Pvt Ltd (UACC), told PTI.
After the protest was over, they all met on a Google meeting, hashed out the essentials, cleared their doubts and decided to form a cooperative society with a core group of 26 persons acting as the Executive Committee or promoters to handle all the paperwork.
Philip said that people always think of credit-related enterprises when a cooperative society is mentioned, but the model can be applied to any field.
He also said that while most cooperatives start based on the interests of a single individual and often result in scams and financial irregularities, there are very few where a community comes together to form a non-credit-oriented cooperative society.
In the instant case, the proposed venture seeks to establish a technology enterprise owned and operated by the professionals who work in it, he said.
“Members would collectively own the cooperative, undertake technology and service assignments, and create employment opportunities for themselves. The model is intended to extend beyond the conventional activities of credit and thrift cooperatives, applying the cooperative principle of collective ownership to healthcare IT, medical coding, billing and related services,” he added.
Philip also said they plan to attract investment from private individuals by offering them shares in the cooperative society.
Vishnu T P, Chief Promoter of the cooperative society, said it was Jijy’s idea to set up the cooperative.
“He came to us and told us about his proposal while we were protesting against the closure of the CorroHealth operations in Keralam,” he said.
The promoters see the proposed society as the beginning of a broader initiative that could eventually create opportunities for fresh graduates, women returning to the workforce and skilled professionals in smaller towns.
Vishnu said that initially they will be focusing on the health sector, and in the future they might branch out into other fields depending upon the work that comes their way.
US-based healthcare technology company CorroHealth announced the abrupt shutdown of its centers in Kochi and Kozhikode, Kerala, on July 3, 2026, affecting roughly 800 to 900 employees.
(PTI News)
