A medical administrator’s comparative experiences
By Dr T H Rindani

First Edition : 2002
pages : 154
price : Rs 150
published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Managing a hospital, especially in present times of privatisation and corporatisation, requires a collective participation or team work to provide the high quality medical care to each patient. While hospital management is a complex subject and enough theoretical material is available on this subject, the author of this book has presented a simple account of his comparable experiences as a medical Administrator in government and private hospitals.

Dr T N Rindani who has considerable research and teaching experience was Dean of T.N. medical college and BYL Nair Hospital and also of Seth G.S. Medical College and KEM Hospital which gave him a lot of insight into the working of these hospitals. Later, working as Medical Director of Jaslok Hospital for 10 years and as chief Executive Director, he was exposed to a different set of approach to healthcare with its sophistry, facilities and the different socio-economic class of patients.

Having minutely observed the behavioural response of a wide spectrum of people, the author has attempted to present his views in a narrative and anecdotal manner, more like describing practice. Confessing that the experiences gained by him with his long stints of service heading private and public hospitals were truly an education in hospital management, the author has presented his expertise and ideas of running a hospital shorn of the modern jargon of management but interspersed with anecdotal narratives of events culled from his personal experiences.

The 10 main chapters covered in about 100 pages deal with the basic functional areas and departments in hospital administration. An appendix consisting of about 50 pages reproduces the author’s seven medical and hospital administration-related articles that have appeared in Economic Times from 1983 to 1985.

The major chapters of the book are as follows : Types of Hospitals, Overlapping of medical and non-medical services, Human Resources Development, Hospital Finances, Medical Records, Medical Equipment, Role of CEO & Management, Role of Doctors, Supporting Services and the Working Environment.

Dr Rindani has given a personal touch to the above chapters with quotes and examples where ever necessary. It is not at all written in an academic mould but more out of wanting to share his experiences with the readers. Being a researcher himself, he has brought out the importance of maintaining records in the chapter on ‘Medical Records’ very well and how these legal documents come in handy in cases of Medical Negligence. While lamenting the decline of clinical/bedside examination, he urges the younger doctors not to allow it to atrophy and suggests good medical administrators to keep their hospitals updated on clinical meetings and workshops.

The chapters on Hospital Finances or Medical Equipment do not cover financial terms, figures and operational procedures per se, but simple solutions gained from personal observations as to how certain costs have to be accounted for etc. Likewise, the HR related chapters are down to earth and the author has laid utmost importance to human relations citing many examples. Everyone connected with hospitals and hospital administration would definitely gain something out of this book.

——-N V R