‘Indians are best placed to run hospitals in America’

Dr P Mohandas, Medical Director, MIOT Hospitals

Armed with 30 years of experience in joint replacement surgery and 40 years of professionalism in orthopaedics, Prof Dr P VA Mohandas, founder and medical director of Chennai-based MIOT Hospitals is ceaselessly endeavouring to make MIOT a global hospital with world class standards. Receiving as many as 150 patients every month for medical tourism, the hospital was recently visited by the President of Seychelles, James Alix Michel as a goodwill gesture for extending quality healthcare to Seychelles citizens. The fact that Prime Minister of Bhutan Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup underwent spinal surgery at the hospital speaks volumes about the quality of care and service rendered by the the hospital.
For pioneering joint replacement surgery in India, Dr Mohandas was conferred the ‘Padmashree’ in 1992. He has also been credited with pioneering AO concept of fracture fixation. In an interview with Rita Dutta, he discusses issues related to trauma care, medical tourism and shares for building a multi-crore Medicity.

Trauma care facility in India is dismal. Please comment.

Though India has the highest accident rate in the world, trauma care here is neither organised nor graded. Injury is the major cause of death and disability with 5,00,000 deaths occurring from injury and 80,000 deaths from road traffic accidents every year. There are few hospitals, which can undertake to treat injuries to multiple organs, and many of our hospitals are meant only for just administering first aid. Hence, valuable time is lost by taking patients with multiple injuries to these small ill-equipped clinics. Most centers also do not have facilities to treat poly-traumatised patient (injuries to multiple organs) which require critical care specialists.

Recently, “Report of First National Consultation on Trauma System Development in India” to improve trauma care facility was submitted to the government. Please comment.

We need money and effort to implement such a grand project. It should start with the metropolis and then percolate down to the towns and rural areas.

What are the hindrances to development of trauma care in India? What are your suggestions to improve the facilities?

We do not have a central agency, which controls the trauma care, ambulance facilities, rescue management of trauma and resuscitation at the site of accident. The right patients are not taken to the right hospitals at the right time. For instance, a person with serious trauma is often taken to a wayside hospital which is poorly equipped and does not have the facilities to even resuscitate the seriously injured person.

At the same time, patients with minor trauma should not be taken to the hospital which is highly specialised. My suggestion would be that the hospitals should be classified, graded, ambulance service must be coordinated and personnel must be trained to take the injured to the right hospital.

Which technologies have revolutionised treatment of trauma?

According to me in the last 20 years, AO technology instituted by Association for Osteosynthesis in Switzerland has improved trauma care. The association formed 40 years ago has laid down principles for the treatment of poly traumatised patients, treatment of various fractures and dislocations by improving the methods of stabilisation and dislocations. AO technology has improved the implants used for fixing a fracture. It also involves very less damage of soft tissue. I pioneered AO in 1975 in India, and now more than 400 orthopaedic surgeons in India use it.

Please comment on the orthopaedic facilities available in the country.

In the last 30 years, we indeed have progressed considerably in orthopedic surgery, especially in the treatment of fracture, dislocation, spinal surgery, correction of the deformity and joint replacement surgery on par with the rest of the world. Facilities in the private sector has kept pace with the developments that have taken place in the rest of the world, but government hospitals have lagged behind. The use of computer navigation in joint replacement surgery can be highlighted as the major advancement.

What was the significance of MIOT Hospitals receiving Niryat Shree Gold Trophy Award?

MIOT Hospitals received the award from the Federation of Indian Exports Organisations sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce for the excellent performance in healthcare and related services. This award is given to export houses, star trading houses, super star trading houses, multi product groups and the healthcare service providers. This is the first time this award was given to any hospital. By treating the maximum number of patients and earning maximum foreign exchange, MIOT Hospitals became the only hospital to receive this award.

A major chunk of patients at MIOT are foreign tourists. Is not the hospital neglecting Indian patients for lure of foreign exchange?

Only 40 per cent of MIOT patients come from abroad. These foreign patients occupy expensive rooms, which are normally not occupied by the Indian patients. This enables the institution to improve the infrastructure facilities by expensive instruments, which is used by all the patients.

Please tell us about the various strategies that you are adopting to woo foreign patients.

We do not have any strategy. It is the satisfied patient who acts as our marketing executive to bring several new patients.

Is India on the right path of medical tourism?

No. The government and people have not realised the great potential in medical tourism. The government does not give any tax exemption or exemption from important expensive equipment from abroad.

What are the roadblocks?

The personnel working in the airport are not kind to people coming from the Middle East. Since they cannot speak English, nobody helps them to fill up the forms. There are no wheelchairs or stretchers to bring seriously ill patients. If we have to progress, the airports have to improve as regards the hygiene, cleanliness and efficiency. If the visa of these patients expire in the middle of the treatment, the immigration authorities expect that the patients come to their office, even if they are very sick.

In what ways can medical tourism receive a boost?

The hospital rates must be competitive than any other country. One should have coordinators who speak the same language and preferably from the same country. One should provide them the food they are used to. For people from the Middle East who pray four to five times a day, we need a prayer place.

Please tell me about the Medicity planned by MIOT Hospitals.

The Medicity will be one stop place for various ailments. Patients will find every speciality available in one place and also the essentials available within the premises. The Medicity will give confidence to patients that everything possible will be done for them irrespective of what medical speciality is needed.

MIOT has started managing hospitals in America. Do you think that such a venture has a good business proposal for other hospitals?

Around 65-70 per cent of our population are over 70 years. The West will need young people to run their infrastructural facilities like hospital workers, ward boys, radiographers, ECG technicians, cath lab technicians, operation theatre technicians, axillary nurses, specialised nurses, etc. I think India can only provide these. Indians are best placed to run hospitals in America.

rita@expresshealthcaremgmt.com