Chairman, The Mission Hospital, Durgapur |
Unlike in the rest of India, super speciality healthcare in this part of the country has developed only within the city limits of Kolkata. The demographic clinical flow of ‘elective’ healthcare would be a local consultation, followed by a referral to one of the tertiary centers in Kolkata. Most of these hospitals are, unfortunately, not manned by full time salaried doctors, do not stress on quality, and treatment options are often guided by “fiscal” end points, rather than clinical. Patients have been quick to realise this, and it has resulted in diversion of traffic more towards southern India. With so many hospitals coming up in Kolkata, with enhanced capex, they resort to a lot of strategies and promises to attract patients. More often, they are not able to adhere to the promises made. This creates an intense vicious cycle, wherein patients get diverted to distant destinations for healthcare, even for basic illnesses, and for more money. This results in a considerable drainin the state exchequer. Healthcare as an industry, alone, contributes maximally to the GDP of a state. Drainage of patients elsewhere, increases inconveniences and has resulted in significant negative fiscal implications. Emergency patients in far-flung areas, are at the mercy of their own pre-decided fate and God. Qualified doctors, with inadequate infrastructure, are left with no option but to refer them to Kolkata. This creates a serious gap in patient satisfaction, both in government sector as well the private. Moreover, many perish on the way. The Mission Hospital was set up in Durgapur in 2008 with the aim to provide futuristic infrastructure, and brilliant minds behind them, with kindness, ensuring transparency of cost, and clinical protocols in line with the best practices of evidence-based medicine. The stress has been on quality, kindness and end-point based packages. The hospital has also encouraged a policy of cross subsidy, thereby benefitting poor people. It was ensured that a patient coming to the OPD was greeted with a smile, had minimal waiting times, was ushered to the right place by well mannered volunteers, their reports printed within two hours and sent home with a proper diagnosis and treatment options within three hours. 99 per cent of outpatients would fall within these benchmarks. Optimal patient information and communication has been the mainstay in Mission Hospital’s success story as well. Implementation of the pneumatic chute and PACS system has also shortened the journey from the imaging and lab department to the clinician resulting in faster diagnosis and cure. The overall patient satisfaction has been excellent and that has led to the development of departments of excellence in the areas of cardiac surgery, cardiology, orthopaedics and joint replacement, neurosurgery, gastroenterology, nephrology, urology and kidney transplant, cosmetic and plastic surgery, critical care and pulmonology, emergency medicine etc.
About 100 critical beds in The Mission Hospital cater to the entire community and this has changed the definition of critical and emergency care in the region. To maintain quality there is a training programme (Master in Emergency Medicine) in association with NSLIJU, New York. In our country, only 0.3 per cent of people have health insurance. For the rest of the people, there is no health budget. When faced with an acute emergency, they do not have enough to pay up huge bills involved in complex procedures like primary and elective angioplasty, pacemakers and valve replacements. For this, it has also set up a strategy, wherein one could make some part payment and pay off the remaining in equal monthly installments, of even less than Rs 1000/- per month. In case the patient expires, the heirs do not have to continue paying thereafter. This has enabled many patients to save lives. Gradually, the hospital plans to extend this facility to other departments as well. Till now, it has facilitated more than 800 procedures in this scheme (christened, ‘Healthy Heart for All’), and there has been no defaulters. One of its key CSR activities have been heart surgery for children. The hospital operates on 300 kids per year absolutely free of cost, as a “give back” to society. The motto, is not to say “no” to any child suffering from congenital heart disease. “We feel very empowered when we look back and realise the smiles that we’ve been able to bring in so many people’s lives in such a short time,” says Dr Bose.
Though the hospital is committed to providing healthcare to every individual irrespective of socioeconomic back ground, it is also one of the best in the industry when it comes to financial indices. Buoyed by the financial models and success, the hospital is venturing in new geographical areas. It is on the verge of constructing another hospital in Siliguri, where similar commitments will be fulfilled. There are plans to start another hospital in Ranchi and a “transplant” hospital in Andal, Sky City with Bengal Aerotropolis.
In Durgapur, a cancer hospital will also be set up with two linear accelerators and PET CT, whose necessary permissions have been obtained and work will start soon. To summarise, the Hospital is driven by clinical excellence and quality, and not by numbers and financial end points. Innovative strategies, association with NGOs and organisations have enabled it to reach out to even the lowest economic strata.