How has 2013 been for Fortis Mumbai?
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Varun Khanna
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Fortis has presence in Mumbai through four facilities — Fortis Mulund, Fortis Kalyan, SL Raheja (A Fortis Associate) Hospital and Fortis Vashi.
The western region is an important revenue contributor for Fortis and we continue to grow and strengthen our presence in this region. The exceptional work being done by the hospital has won the trust of millions of patients. We have been recognised for several contributions in elevating the standards of healthcare delivery.
Fortis Mulund won the FICCI Award for Operational Excellence for two consecutive years, in 2013 and 2012. It also received the National Award for Energy Conservation.
What have been the most notable initiatives taken this year?
There were several initiatives taken this year such as:
- We launched a new cardiac centre in Fortis in Kalyan, taking specialised cardiac care to the suburban areas of Mumbai, including Dombivali, Badlapur and Bhivandi.
- Very recently, for World Heart Day, we created an anthem ‘Mumbai Ki Dhadkan,’ and dedicated it to the spirit of the Mumbai to help create awareness and tackle heart disease among Mumbaikars.
- Significant work, both in terms of physical infrastructure as well as equipment has been undertaken at Fortis Mulund. An enhanced endoscopy unit, with in-house project management, was made operational recently.
- Fortis SL Raheja Hospital added several new facilities, including a 16-bed state-of-the-art intensive care unit, cardiac operation theatres and emergency rooms. The Department of Accident and Emergency Medicine at the hospital was inaugurated in March, 2013. The department offers advanced treatment, protocol-driven evaluation and uninterrupted management to rapidly stabilise and treat patients. The hospital also launched a new treatment, Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy, for diabetic foot ulcers. Another new treatment, Autologous Stem Cell Therapy, was launched to treat Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI), a condition where the arteries of the lower extremities are blocked.
- Several new programmes including interventional neuroradiology, neurology and neurosurgery, and a laparoscopic surgery programme were also launched. A sleep lab to diagnose sleep-related problems also became operational. The hospital pioneered the treatment of breast cancer with conservative breast surgery and intraoperative radio therapy (IORT). IORT is a novel technique that delivers a single high dose of radiation to the cancer-affected area.
What are some of the CRS initiatives that the hospital has undertaken?
As a responsible corporate citizen, we have also been actively promoting healthy living initiatives. In order to make adults more responsible and accountable towards their health and well-being, the four Fortis hospitals in Mumbai joined a programme spearheaded by the Fortis Foundation, Fortis’s philanthropic arm, to spread awareness of the ill-effects of tobacco, thereby drafting young foot soldiers in creating a ‘tobacco-free, healthy society.’ This campaign created a new Guinness World Record by collecting over 100,000 personalised greeting cards with anti-tobacco messages. A large mosaic wall of greeting cards was set up for this campaign and over 100 schools across Mumbai were involved in this initiative. Oncologists from Fortis hospitals and principals of the participating schools volunteered as the campaign ambassadors.
Fortis Hospital Vashi, too, created a Guinness World Record by screening over 751 women in eight hours as part of a cervical cancer screening campaign, beating the earlier record held by Kaiser Permanente, San Diego (United States).
Fortis Mulund has distinguished itself as a centre of clinical excellence. A significant number of renal transplants have been performed in the last year. Several live surgical workshops on neurology, oncology and gynaecology are conducted on an ongoing basis and an impressive array of national and international faculties participate in these sessions. A workshop on ‘Advances in Critical Care’ was also conducted.
We have been strongly focusing on building a strong connect with the community. Prevention, as we all know, is better than cure. Fortis intends to continue to focus on spreading awareness, especially among children. For example, the ‘Clean Hands to Save Life’ project helped us engage with more than a lakh children to teach them the six steps to a healthy hand wash. We intend to continue with these initiatives in the future.
What kind of success has Fortis enjoyed in the Western region vis-a-vis other regions of the country?
The Western region is an important revenue contributor for Fortis and we will continue to grow and strengthen our presence in this region.
What are some of the rare clinical cases done at your Mumbai hospitals?
Our team of clinical experts and doctors continue to perform rare surgeries and procedures to save the lives of many. Fortis Hospital Kalyan recently performed a successful ‘Awake Brain’ tumour removal surgery on 24-year-old Jayesh Rathod, giving him a new lease of life by a team led by Dr Sunil Kutty, Neurosurgeon at Fortis.
Complicated heart and cancer surgery was done simultaneously on a 76-year-old- atient at Fortis Mulund by an expert team of Dr Nilesh Maru, Cardiac surgeon and Dr SK Mathur, GI surgeon, Dr Zakia Khan, Interventional Cardiologist.
A baby girl born through the IVF technique had all internal organs placed in opposite side of where they should, a condition called situs inversus. Such a complicated patient case was treated successfully by Dr Nikita Lad, gynaecologist with her team at SL Raheja Hospital.
An young Iraqi female patient suffering from congenital birth defect of hip dislocation who was untreated for almost 32 years was treated successfully at Fortis Hospital Mulund by Dr Sachin Bhonsle, orthopaedic surgeon.
What projects and initiatives are underway or are planned for this region in the coming years?
We have several new initiatives in the pipeline. Some of these include an Obesity Clinic , Bone Marrow Transplant Centre & Heart Failure Clinic by Fortis Hospital in Mulund.
Any expansion plans in the offing? If yes, what kind of investment are you looking at?
We will continue to make investments across people, technology and clinical talent that will help us to stay ahead of the curve and continue to define new benchmarks in healthcare delivery.
What are the areas that need more focus to improve healthcare delivery in the Western region? What is Fortis, as a major healthcare player, doing to fill the gaps?
In the Western region, healthcare delivery can benefit from a more holistic focus. As a leading player in this field, Fortis is working on improving the service delivery, quality and quantity of communication to the patient; and in benchmarking ourselves against the globally accepted parameters.
It is important for healthcare providers to move away from the traditional delivery model which started at the first point of contact and ended at discharge; and step into the arena of making the process as ‘end-to-end’ as possible, including the ease of accessibility to patients. Fortis strives to bring the first point of contact as close to “when the first need was felt by the patient” as possible; and this is the primary reason why our awareness campaigns are focused on preventive and monitoring activities.
Healthcare players should look beyond the obvious and try to be ‘partners in health’ in addition to being ‘caretakers during sickness’. Fortis aspires to raise the bar in service delivery through this shift and we believe that this will be an important factor to change the landscape in the longer run.
What are the opportunities and challenges that are peculiar to this region? How has Fortis tackled them for growth?
Paediatric cardiac care is a weak link for the region. Fortis is among the few healthcare players that have a credible paediatric care facility to address this need.
Three recommendations to take healthcare in the Western region to the next level?
Improving service delivery through a multi-pronged approach (including harnessing advanced monitoring tools for patient conditions, improvement of nursing skill sets), improving the quality and quantity of communication to patients; and benchmarking ourselves against the globally accepted parameters to measure quality in healthcare delivery are some of the initiatives that can take healthcare to the next level.