On the sidelines of Healthcare Senate 2016, Alkem laboratories organised two power – packed discussion on the ‘Role of pharmaceutical companies in propelling growth for corporate hospitals’.
The first discussion was chaired by Venugopal Vijayendran, President – Marketing and Sales, Alkem Laboratories along with senior management team of Fortis Hospitals on September 23, 2016. Vijayendran began the discussion by highlighting the challenges in dealing with corporate hospital clients in the process of medicine procurement. He pointed out that despite the price cut or discounts on medicine given by pharma companies, hospitals continue to sell medicines at a higher cost. He said that hindrances caused by corporate hospitals will only drive pharma companies to either cut down on discounts given to them or stop selling their medicine to these hospitals. He then asked the panel of five to seven members to share their opinion on the same and come up with ideas that can strengthen their partnerships. Dr Vivek Jawali, Director, Fortis Hospitals, Bengaluru gave a bird eye view of the current situation. He said that if the government, pharma companies and hospitals do not work to make medicine accessible and affordable, patients will suffer. He highlighted that only unity among these three stakeholders can build a better healthcare system within the country.
Ajay Vij, Head—Supply Chain Management, Fortis Healthcare and Satpal S Gambhir Head Administration, Fortis Healthcare agreed to Dr Jawali and pointed out that the idea behind such collaborations and discount deals is to bring about affordability of medicine among patients, therefore unity among the stakeholders is a must. Other members on the panel raised concerns that if they sell medicine at a price lower than the MRP, the hospital’s balance-sheet would suffer.
The discussion progressed as each of the members present at the table shared there views on the problems and provided simple strategies that would allow each stakeholder to benefit from these partnerships. The key lesson from this discussion was that both stakeholders – pharma companies corporate hospitals need to work on their shortcomings. At the end of this discussion the panel was convinced that there is room for future business dialogue.
This healthy discussion with the management team of Fortis Hospitals set stage for further deliberations. Alkem had another round of discussion with more corporate hospitals management official on September 24, 2016.
Dr Suresh Saravdekar, Director, The Rural Centre, Krishnamurti Foundation of India and ex-Assistant Director and Consultant (hospital supplies procurement), Ministry of Medical Education & Health, State of Maharashtra opened the floor for discussion on a positive note saying that the Indian pharma companies should be seen as a partner by the corporate hospitals, as both are working for the betterment of the patients’ health.
“Pharma companies need to have patient education programmes that talk about the pharmacology, the mode of action carried behind the product, etc. Such programmes will help the pharma companies to build the trust with the end user,” said Dr Krishna Singla, General Manager, Shah Hospital, Kaithal, Haryana.
Giving a healthcare providers’ point of view, Sameer Mehta, Director, Dr Mehta’s Hospital said, “Going forward pharma companies and corporate hospitals will need to lower the prices of medicines. In the next 10 years, the role of a pharmacist will change from being just a purchasing manager to a clinical pharmacist.”
Dr Aniruddha Malpani, Director and Values Custodian-Solidarity Investment Advisors, TiE Mumbai, AllizHealth urged pharma companies and hospitals to keep patients first and come up with strategies that will make healthcare delivery affordable, reliable and accessible.
While summing up the discussion, Sambit Mohanty, General Manager, Alkem Laboratories thanked all the participants for sharing their valuable inputs and hoped that these discussion will guide both stakeholders to design better mechanisms for patient care and healthcare delivery.