Spotlight

The Alchemist for Good Health

Hyderabad-based Yashoda Hospitals Group has carved its path to become one of the most successful names in healthcare in South India by providing the latest, yet affordable treatment, says Jayata Sharma.

For a hospital that believes in internal branding (patient care) rather than external branding (advertisements), Yashoda Hospital has done well for itself delivering world-class healthcare. Its preventive healthcare messages across billboards and traffic-diverting stalls are hard to miss as one enters Hyderabad.

The hospital has certainly worked its way up from a small clinic in Somajiguda in Hyderabad in 1989, to a 1,000-plus bed facility, with three set-ups at Secunderabad, Malakpet and Somajiguda, and a nursing school and college attached to each hospital. Recent establishments were an emergency clinic at Hyderabad airport and a mobile screening unit for cancer and heart diseases.

The goal to provide the best healthcare at affordable prices does attract all strata of people. Moreover, since its focus is on charitable causes, creating public awareness and free health camps, it prefers to save on décor. Optimum utilisation of manpower and equipment is the secret. The hospital sees 900-1,000 patients everyday at each facility, do 40-50 surgeries a day; and instead of 10 cases for one equipment, do 20-25. Normally, a hospital does around 200-250 CT scans every month.

Yashoda does a whopping 600! Yashoda treats more number of patients than any other hospital in Hyderabad.

The Birth

"Every hospital set-up should be equipped with big and small equipment to be functional independently" - Dr G Surender Rao Executive Director Yashoda Group

For Dr G Surender Rao, Executive Director of the Group, and the brain behind Yashoda Hospitals, it was important that each of the Group Hospital be an independent facility. "Every hospital set-up should be equipped with big and small equipment to be functional independently. A reason why we have allotted a cath lab, an MRI, a CT scan etc at all three hospitals," says Dr S Rao.

"All paramedical and support staff are requested to be alert, so as to deliver world-class healthcare" - G Ravinder Rao MD, Yashoda Group

After having worked in Iran and Europe for eight years, Dr S Rao on his return to India set up a private practice in Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad. "My practice picked up and this gave me the idea for starting a hospital at Somajiguda," he recalls. In the 90s, the 200-bed hospital witnessed a substantial growth and was famous in Andhra Pradesh (AP). Then came the Malakpet set-up in 1995, a super-speciality hospital, followed by a third facility at Secunderabad in 2003. The Secunderabad hospital is considered the largest in AP. G Ravinder Rao, MD of Yashoda Group, recalls how efforts paid off when Yashoda Group of Hospitals became the first Hospital Group in AP with 1,000 beds, 450 doctors and 60 specialities.

The Inside Story

Like any other venture, Yashoda Group too faced initial hiccups of availing finance, good clinical talent, nurses and para-medical staff; and systemising best protocols and standard operating procedures (SOPs) in patient treatment and care. That was soon overcome.

From 25 doctors and 80 nurses, today it has in its employment more than 450 doctors, 1,500 nurses and a total of 4,000 staff comprising paramedical and other support staff. "We have grown from having a single CT Scan to being one of the world's few digital flat panel cath labs," says Dr S Rao. At present, the Group juggles with more than 60 specialities cardiac, oncology, neurology, urology, nephrology, gastroenterology, emergency, orthopaedics, ENT, ophthalmology, gynaecology, paediatrics, anaesthesiology, plastic surgery, among others.

The Six Cs

What has stood all these years is its decision to pay attention to its six core values, namely, care, capability, character, courtesy, contribution, and commitment (see box). "Our standards are high. Be it simple therapy or a complex operative procedure, we approach it with the same diligence and preparedness," says Dr S Rao. The reason why it can provide affordable care to needy people, as attention to minute detail helps reduce chances of medical errors and wastage of time and money. "We invest in resources to ensure our doctors stay abreast of current medical trends, and technology. We buy equipment and upgrade existing ones on a continual basis. All paramedical and support staff are requested to be alert, so as to deliver world-class healthcare," avers R Rao.

Unveiling the Logo of Yashoda

The logo of Yashoda Group represents its six core values, and resembles a flower containing six petals. Care: Every patient is important, and hence deserves the best care possible. The Group promises not to be mechanical in its approach to work. Courtesy: People coming to hospitals are stressed. Yashoda attempts to assure both patients and their loved ones at ease—through courteous interactions at every stage. Capability: The hospitals will be fully capable of diagnosing and treating all diseases effectively. Character: The Group will be true to the trust that is placed on them. Yashoda takes care to follow all procedures and principles. Commitment: To continuously learn and find better methods of prevention and cure through undertaking, support and commissioning research, in various fields. Contribution: Ensuring that the Group gives back significantly to the society through education, planned charity and support of local initiatives for better health.

Branding Yashoda

Lobby at Yashoda Hospital, Secunderabad

While the hospital may not require an exclusive advertising exercise, it has its own way of ensuring promotion and visibility. "We prefer not to advertise like other hospitals, but make ourselves visible through utilisation of proper media vehicles to send desired message to the community in general and targeted clientele towards our hospital services. We believe the fact that a satisfied patient is the best brand ambassador," says Ashoka Varma, Branding & Public Relations Manager, Yashoda Hospitals Group. Hyderabad Heart Walk was initiated to create awareness among the masses about heart-related ailments and prevention. It saw a huge response which can be proved by the fact that more than 5,000 Hyderabadis participated in the five-kilometre walk.

The Mobile Cancer & Cardiac Screening Unit was started for early detection of cancer and cardiac diseases. Yashoda Group conducted free health screening throughout AP so as to detect cancer and heart ailments at an early stage. Dr S Rao states this project as the most satisfying till date. Another campaign, Control Diabetes was in a bid to control diabetes through public health messages. "During this assignment, we put up hoardings across Hyderabad to list the social messages and preventive steps towards diabetes," says Varma. There is also an ongoing public awareness campaign, Promise Ur'self to stay Healthy, which includes putting up banners across Hyderabad to help reduce stress, benefits of exercising daily, et al. Such is the impact of these awareness programmes, that recently, top MNCs including Microsoft and Wipro Technologies invited Varma to share these banners at their campus!

Mobile Screening & Emergency Care

The mobile screening unit at Yashoda Hospitals was started on October 12, 2006, with the purpose of organising free screening of cancer and heart attacks at district head quarters, mandals and village levels across AP. An initiative of the Yashoda Charitable Trust, the cost of the unit, including operational expenditure for the first six months was Rs 6 crore, which has reduced to Rs 4 crore annually, including maintenance. The emergency and accident care units at the hospitals are manned by qualified intensivists, specially trained doctors and nurses and emergency medical technicians, available round the clock and ably backed by a 24-hour diagnostic facility. Yashoda has a dedicated emergency number (105910). A fleet of ambulances fully equipped with life saving equipment support this department always prepared to handle any situation. All ambulances have wireless communication systems. Emergency physicians instruct medical technicians through wireless. Ambulances are equipped with GIS tracking system, which enable the base station from the hospital to direct the ambulance a vailable nearest to the caller. The driver of the ambulance also gets information from the base station regarding the route to reach the hospital at the earliest.

Continuing with this tradition, Yashoda's future plans include the persistent practice to provide health for all, with a focus on 'health insurance' awareness.

jayata.sharma@expresshealthcare.com