‘Domain knowledge in the healthcare sector can be converted into business knowledge’
By A Correspondent - Bangalore

Vishal Bali, Chairman, NSSC-Healthcare speaking during a session on medical technology

Most healthcare ventures managed by non-profit private bodies in the US are financially viable, independent and strongly managed. “India must therefore carefully study such models and devise appropriate structures,” said Dr Rakesh Mohan, chairman of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and deputy governor designate of RBI. He was delivering the special address at inauguration of the National Service Sector Conclave (NSSC). It was organised by the CII Institute of Quality at Bangalore recently. The two-day conclave aimed at mapping, analysing and highlighting the emerging business opportunities and competitiveness in the financial, education, healthcare and distribution sectors.

According to Dr Mohan the three critical shortcomings in the Indian health sector are lack of adequate funding in hospitals, the mismatch in job profiles and lack of specialised management skills to run hospitals in India.

Pointing out the disparity in pricing and quality, Dr Mohan said we need to devise methodologies for better quality control. Quality and standards which have been enforced by the corporates have to be taken to the lower level, he said. Delivering his keynote on the healthcare services, the chairman of Apollo Hospital, Dr Prathap C Reddy said it was vital to improve skills and attitudes of healthcare professionals and provide better training for doctors and nurses.

Besides scope in surgery in India, Dr Reddy also identified Hospital Information System market as a revenue generator for the future. “We have domain knowledge in the healthcare sector and this can be converted into business knowledge,” he added. We therefore need hospital administrators who can successfully manage hospitals.

Stressing the need for private institutes in medical education, Dr Reddy said that connecting district hospitals with teaching hospitals to share expertise and knowledge is a must.

Dr Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospital delivering the keynote address on healthcare services.

“Government should give fillip for medical and clinical research to enable the country move ahead on the chain of clinical research in coming out with newer products and bring down cost of drugs,” he opined.

“We also have potential in medical business process outsourcing. At a lower cost India will be a healthcare destination to the world in the next 25 years,” he emphasised.

Vishal Bali, chairman, NSSC-Healthcare and GM of Wockhardt Hospital and Heart Institute, Bangalore pointed out that healthcare has moved from being ‘patient centric’ to ‘customer centric.’ Standardisation and accreditation have become the need of the hour with shift from ‘doctor driven model’ to ’system driven model.’

“Creating core competent areas with a need for professional management in institutions is essential. Global partnerships will enhance quality standards,” he contended. Speaking on technology Bali said clinicians and decision makers of hospitals are bombarded with technology resulting in cost pressures. Hospital should know their need for IT solutions and not merely replicate what has been done in the West. Aravind Srinivas, head-solution delivery of Tata Consultancy Service said that system requirement, business requirement, functional requirement need to be considered while selecting the right IT solution. Scalability factor in terms of expansion, integration need to be considered. “Technology should adhere to web based protocols while security and integration are also must.” Addressing and understanding human situation are essential while delivering IT solutions for healthcare, said Bharat Gera, President and CEO, Think Ahead while speaking on IT with a human touch. IT has to work within the limitations, leveraging the available infrastructure and give more importance for better understanding of human situation.

Analjit Singh, chairman, Max India Ltd put forth a very valid issue, which needs attention in the wake of private interest in healthcare, ie, the challenges and obstacles in primary, secondary and tertiary care. The challenges of execution are capital, affordability, benchmarking service prices, huge availability of manpower including duty issues, he said.

Speaking on the need for public private partnership in healthcare, Mahendra Jain, project administrator, Karnataka Health Systems Development Project (KHSDP) said efficiency and professionalism are way ahead in all the referral centres, sub centres and PHCs. Sense of ownership is missing in the public sector, he said. Highlighting the state’s initiatives for public private partnerships he said larger hospitals should be transformed into autonomous institutions. He also stressed on the need for involving private medical colleges, NGOs and corporate health bodies to manage PHCs efficiently.

The success story of Sankara Netralaya, the Chennai based charitable hospital for ophthalmology, narrated by Dr K Ravishankar, assistant medical director was an apt example for charity hospital on quality work and a single speciality success.

Prof P K Dave, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences said the Medical Council of India is working out on the possibilities of having a medical college for every hospital, informed A proposal for Medical Grants Commission to fund medical colleges has been submitted, he added. We need integrated disease control network by 2005 and multispeciality hospitals in the public sector. Prof Dave emphasised on the need to have tertiary care hospitals in every capital of state and give equal importance to traditional medicine. We should facilitate referral systems because it is difficult to take tertiary care to rural areas, he said.

“Integrated healthcare system create competitive advantage and customer focussed approach. These are very essential for creating end-to-end patient care delivery and conceptual model sharing,” said Sangita Reddy, director-operations, Apollo Hospitals Group. We need to create centres of excellence, she added. Viability, project cash flow, equipment maintenance, efficiency improvement are the factors to be taken care by the supplier of medical equipment and healthcare institutions in creating viable institutions, said Heinrich Von Wulfen, executive vice president-medical solutions of Siemens Ltd. India is a desired place for healthcare delivery and IT will be a big viability in future, he said. The country head-corporate marketing of Philips Medical Systems India Pvt Ltd V Arunachalam demanded enhancement of status of medical technology not only in tertiary care but also in secondary and primary care.

Speaking on the clinical edge the country has Shanker Annaswamy, president and CEO of GE Medical Systems, South Asia said the future of imaging lies in biomarkers, targeted chemistry, diagnostic technology and genomics. Enormous opportunities are lying ahead of us for enhancing clinical work and joint work and strategic partnerships will play a major role in delivering quality care, he added.

Dr S V Joga Rao, director, Pegasus Health Law Consultant said that quality care calls for evaluating our own clinical practices. Medical audit is therefore need of the hour.

Girish Rao, executive director, TTK Health Services Pvt Ltd while speaking on insurance laid down high insurance cost as one of the reasons for low coverage. The cost of insurance is very high, he lamented. TTK Health Services, the only company that manufactures heart valves in India, has forayed into insurance in healthcare business and is one of the 19 TPAs licensed by IRDA. Though TPAs will actually add value to healthcare delivery, they should manage the whole delivery process and learn and play their role carefully.

Telemedicine should be taken to rural sector and ISRO’s telemedicine initiatives are towards improving rural healthcare in India, said L S Sathyamurthy, director (BD), Antrix (ISRO). Pointing out that lack of investment and high cost are two major hurdles, he said there needs to be a point to point system in telemedicine between a district hospital and a super speciality hospital. The State government has established lot of initiatives in this regard and an MoU has been signed between ISRO and the state government for referral hospital. ISRO’s HealthSat is devised to provide healthcare to a distant and needy patients in the country. The conclave was attended by 400 delegates from across the country.