The Inside Story

After many months of blood and sweat, it was heartening to see the inaugural edition of Express Healthcare Excellence Awards, 2008 (presented by Carestream Health and organised by Express Healthcare) take off on a grandiose note. Our May issue would carry the detailed coverage of the awards, but here I would give you some snippets behind the scenes and our bitter-sweet experience of hosting the awards.

It all started in the month of December with us dispatching nomination forms, prepared by Ernst and Young, to hospitals across the country. Surprisingly, more than 50 per cent of the hospitals did not receive the forms in the first go. To our sheer embarrassment, many key professionals did not receive our personal invite to attend the function, leaving many unhappy. Our learning: often important documents get lost in the labyrinthine corridors of hospitals. But, it was our second learning that left us flabbergasted. Such deep is the rivalry in the healthcare industry that one major hospital group (say Hospital A) withdrew its nomination form, objecting to one of the ad campaigns that we conducted announcing participation of another hospital— in the race to choose the best. Over a cup of coffee, we invite the management of Hospital A to patiently understand the entire process of selection before casting aspersions.

Our third learning was that important data is still not available in organised format in some of the renowned hospitals. Even as some hospitals pleaded to extend the deadline, they did not file their nomination citing reasons that they did not have data the way we wanted. They have promised to participate from next year. We earnestly hope that they keep their word. Unfortunately, some very deserving hospitals did not file in key information where it mattered the most— thus losing out in the race. Kudos to Apollo Group of Hospitals which provided every meticulous information in the form! Also cheers to Mumbai's Jaslok Hospital as it was the first one to send us the form, days before the deadline!

Then the data was collated, and along with help of the fabulous duo of Dr Rakesh Kapur and Murali Nair of Ernst and Young, we selected the nominees based on scores— laying the path for jury members’s verdict. Our special thanks to all jury members, all of whom indulged in healthy debate and critical analysis before casting votes by electronic voting system.

After that, it was our turn to inform hospitals about their nominations. Once again, we came across an ugly side of the industry. Some hospitals would consistently badger us to know whether they have won. While most hospitals stopped enquiring after being informed that we cannot reveal the winners beforehand, a major group was undeterred in its efforts. It harangued us by calling every single day. Not only it wanted to know whether it had won, it also dared to ask the winners in other categories, and such trivial things like table arrangements, flow of events, etc. It also wanted to play the AV of the hospital and distribute pamphlets! Even if the person responsible for all this fuss apologised to us later, we request the senior management of the hospital concerned to train its people on ways of dealing with the media, before unleashing them on us!

We admire nominees like Fortis, Ahaliya, Jaslok, Ruby Hall and LV Prasad Eye Institute— which never for a single time enquired whether they have won or not. They immediately deputed senior people to attend the event. In fact, a colleague of mine, who is an admirer of Fortis's Daljit Singh's both professional and dancing skills, was upset that Daljit had to go back without any award. Even as the Hospital did not receive any trophy this time, Daljit's attitude was unparallel. He was the first one to profusely congratulate Vishal Bali, CEO of Wockhardt Hospital Group, for winning 'Leader of the Year' award; he also sent us the first congratulatory SMS on the function. Hope he rubs off some of his camaraderie and professionalism to others in the industry! The modesty of the prolific Dr B Soma Raju, Chairman, Care Group of Hospitals, who won the lifetime achievement award, was also heart-warming. Our special thanks to Bali, who kept his word of attending the event, even as his family had to air-dash to Delhi a day before the event to attend to an emergency in the family. But the star of the evening was definitely Sangita Reddy, Executive Director-Operations, Apollo Group of Hospitals. Some confessed that they have trooped in only to hear her! Cheers to women power! Also, special thanks to George Eapen, CEO, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai who attended the event despite his doctor's advice against travelling because of his recent viral attack. From the bottom of my heart, I thank all my dear friends in the industry, some of whom came from outside Mumbai, for celebrating the event along with us. And to people who could not attend the event due to professional commitments, but sent 'best of luck' messages. Besides all our sponsors who made it possible for us to host the event, special thanks to Dr Vivek Desai, MD, Hosmac who was inimitable as a moderator for the panel discussion.

Looking forward to similar support from you all in the years to come. We promise that the event would only get bigger and better.

Rita Dutta
rita.dutta@expressindia.com