'Hospital entrepreneurs must be service oriented'

Pitted against the architectural embellishments and luxuries of hospitals in health destinations like New Delhi and Bangalore, Trivandrum, the capital of the state of Kerala, boasts of medical professionals of a very high calibre and modern facilities and labs in simple buildings. This is partly because, until a couple of years ago, the medical education in the state remained beyond the ambit of privatisation. On the service front, litigious nature of people along with relatively higher level of awareness compel medical entrepreneurs to take utmost care in setting up and maintaining a hospital.
The 110-bed S K Hospital, set up in May 2003 and located in a sprawling campus on the bank of river Killiar has a quite distinct ambience, when compared to most of the other multi-specialty hospitals in the city. The brain behind this project, engineer-turned-entrepreneur K N Sivan Kutty, who is also the managing director of the hospital, emphasises the need for hospital entrepreneurs to remain service-oriented to be successful in an interview with R BabyManoj.

It is interesting to learn that having spent most of your career as an engineer with Kerala State Electricity Board, you have decided to set up a multi-specialty hospital after your retirement. What was the motive behind setting up S K Hospital three years ago? Could you tell us how did you raise funds, initially?

The thought process was if a hospital was set up here, my children studying medicine, would not to go elsewhere in search of a job. Regarding the investment part, I arranged some money by selling off a part of the land. As far as Bank's help was concerned, initially they were sceptical of giving loan to a person from a non-medical background. However, after the inauguration by the hon Chief minister of Kerala, A K Antony, the banks came forward. A new branch of the Jammu & Kashmir Bank in Thiruvananthapuram agreed to provide loan at the rate of 13.5 per cent. Later, I shifted the loan to Punjab and National Bank, which offered still lower rate of interest at 8.75 per cent.

Do you feel that the banks came forward acknowledging the business potential? Or else what would have prompted them to change their stand?

The bank wanted the account of our sister concern, Sandhya Gas Agency (SGA). The turn over of around Rs 4-4.5 crore of SGA could have convinced the bank to lend for the hospital project, too.

What was your initial investment? Did you go for a market survey before beginning the work?

My initial investment was Rs 2.5 crore. Before venturing into this, a survey conducted by us showed that Edapazhanji (where the hospital is located) and its surroundings were a middle class dominated area, where there was no modern multi-specialty hospital in the geographical region of around five to six kilometre radius. It further revealed that the public wanted best medical facilities in their neighbourhood; at the same time, they were not willing to pay for that. Thus the hospital's logo 'Quality medical care within your reach' was coined. Including 40 doctors, now we have a staff strength of nearly 200.

Could you brief us about your philosophy of running a hospital? How does S K Hospital stand apart from its counterparts in the city?

We had laid special emphasis on the hospitality aspect. My approach to the hospital was that of a common man; my primary intention being to make the patients and accompanying relatives feel at home.

The staff members were given training in receiving patients. This made our hospital very popular in a short span of time. We have designed the building in such a way so to accommodate all the essential departments easily accessible. My philosophy is evident in the way the hospital was designed, constructed and is being run. At the entrance itself is the casualty department. We have set up every essential department including the labs, the scanning/X ray units, the drug store and the canteen on the ground floor itself.

At the front office, we appointed staff to exclusively receive and direct patients and relatives to the respective places they want to visit. Even though we charge less, we have provided all the amenities on par with the modern hospitals in the country. We provide round the clock service.

We are very particular about hygiene and air-circulation in the hospital. Other super-specialty hospitals are somewhat suffocating. Even those fully air-conditioned hospitals may not be good for health. Our staff are particular in giving service with a human touch. In many other hospitals, attitude of the staff members is mechanised

Most of the multi-specialty hospitals are hesitant to start a de-addiction centre. But you have started one. Why? How is the response?

De-addiction is a specialty area, which we have recently introduced. Alcoholism is a scourge in the state and thousands of families are suffering because of it. Many people advised me against opening a de-addiction centre. But now, the centre headed by Dr Neelakantan, has become a big success. Even VIPs are coming for treatment. We ensure complete secrecy about the identity of the patient.

We feel providing succour to get rid of this social evil is part of our duty. However, many well-wishers had the apprehension that the hospital itself would be labeled as a de-addiction centre, taking away attention from other crucial departments. Our experience has proved otherwise. We ensure complete secrecy about the identity of the patient. We admit the person for 10-11 days. Many alcoholics stopped drinking after our treatment.

Have you achieved break even? What are your expansion plans? How do you meet the cost of expansion?

In terms of capital expenditure, we have achieved break even. We are expanding every month. With the expansion, newer equipment apart from basic infrastructure is being provided. This necessitates fresh investment, which we are able to meet from our revenue. Our monthly revenue is about 28 lakh and the expenditure is also almost the same.

Do you have plans to set up more such hospitals in the state?

No, we will stabilise the functioning of the hospital this year and strengthen the existing departments by providing more sophisticated equipment and state-of-the-art facilities. We want to make our lab cent per cent error-free. Our ultimate endeavour is not to make money, but provide quality service

Personal motives can ruin prospects. We are concerned about the poor patients. For an ordinary delivery, including medicine, ward fees etc, the total cost is only Rs 3,500 in our hospital. The cost is higher in any other private multi-specialty hospital. We also provide concession to poor patients. Even our doctors are ready to waive or reduce their consultation fees. Additionally, we organise educational and awareness workshops for the patients free of cost.

Do you find the state government's attitude and policies conducive to entrepreneurship in the health care sector?

Taxation is a vexing issue. Our one time tax is nearly Rs six lakh.

Traditionally, there has been a tendency among many private hospitals to bring in the brand equity of a renowned medical doctor/surgeon to boost the reputation of the hospital. Are you following the same policy?

To make quick success, many suggested that I appoint renowned doctors. My belief is that the hospital should have its own brand image; it cannot have a pillion-ride. I believe in collective action and decentralisation of power. Our doctors have freedom in performing their duties. This ensures good quality treatment.

Any recent initiatives in the hospital?

Our cardiology unit has started a programme titled "Save your heart" for educating patients about complications related to heart attack among high-risk individuals. Even though heart-attack is fatal, the usual tendency is to neglect preventive measures. We have plans to start 'Art of living' programmes here.

rbmanoj@expressindia.com