The healthcare infra space is a hotbed of opportunity and the industry players across various verticals in this sphere are vying with each other to put their best foot forward. C P Thadhani, Director, CR Medisystems, talks about the sector, its evolution, challenges and his company’s offerings as well as plans to optimise the segment’s growth spurt, in an interaction with Lakshmipriya Nair
How has the healthcare infra space in India evolved over the years?
| C P Thadhani |
The healthcare infra space – landscape, if you will – has evolved considerably over the last three decades. For many years, the largest hospitals in India were run by the Government – Central, State or (as in Mumbai) even by the local municipality such as KEM Hospital, Sion Hospital, Bhabha Hospital, etc. A few of the so called ‘private’ hospitals were usually founded, funded and managed by charitable trusts and some by well known catholic missions. With few exceptions, most of these hospitals were modest in size (usually under 500 beds).
Since those days, the corporate sector has stepped in and the hospital landscape has changed dramatically. For one, the planning of new hospitals is now organised through professional hospital consultancy groups comprising a mix of doctors and engineers. Most of these hospitals are 300 beds + as smaller units are not considered to be economically viable. They also prefer to be ‘multi-speciality’ hospitals as these tend to bring in the maximum revenue. All of them are run and managed by professionally-trained hospital administrators. Many even rely on advertising as a marketing tool though this practice is frowned upon by the Medical Council of India (MCI). In general, however, the presence of such hospitals has substantially improved healthcare facilities, and outcomes, to the point where most Indians do not feel the need to travel overseas even for difficult medical problems and, in fact, we now have a nascent and growing ‘medical tourism’ industry.
What are the opportunities and challenges for players in this space?
As the country gears up to improve its healthcare infrastructure, each segment in healthcare space throws up its own needs. Government hospitals, dormant for long, have finally started putting their expansion and upgradation plans in place. The organised corporate sector is busy constructing several new hospitals and/or acquiring older smaller hospitals and upgrading them. Newer, ‘branded’ corporate hospital ‘chains’ are cropping up with regularity. Religious and charity trusts, especially those in the South and West of the country, have also put up hospital projects as part of their commitment to social welfare. Smaller, modern, hospitals are also coming up in tier-II and tier-III towns all over the country, often as investments by local groups of doctors and doctor couples. The challenge is to manufacture well designed and affordable infrastructure equipment for each of the above segments.
How does CR Medisystems intend to play a role in the progress of this sphere?
With several years of prior experience in patient monitoring, defibrillation and ICU equipment, Medisystems entered the hospital infrastructure space more than 15 years ago. We pioneered electronic nurse-call systems, introduced bed-head panels and invented OPD patient-call systems. All of which were carefully designed to fit in with local user practice all over India, and also to fit in within Indian healthcare budgets. To these products were added ceiling mounted pendants for OTs and ICUs. As the healthcare market expands, Medisystems will add newer technology and products to ensure that the country has the best crafted infrastructure in its hospitals, requiring minimum or no maintenance. A hospital needs to focus mainly on its patients and should not have to constantly divert its resources to get its infrastructure functioning.
How does your offerings serve to enhance the infrastructure in a hospital set up?
We can illustrate with two examples: bed-head panels and electronic nurse-call systems. Too many hospitals, even today, do not understand the need to converge multiple utilities behind the patient bed in an organised manner. Medical gas pipelines and terminals, electrical fittings, patient-bed lighting, telecom and data terminals are all independently and separately planned for, with multiple contracts for execution – often through small time local wire men and contractors. On the other hand, bed-head panels are factory assembled units designed to converge all the above utilities neatly and systematically in an aesthetic enclosure mounted behind the patient bed. Properly configured and coordinated with installation of the other services, such panels can be installed within minutes at each bed, with no damage to the walls and other utilities. They require no maintenance, and service, if ever needed, is vastly simplified as no wall fixtures need to be removed. The panels are lightweight and can be easily mounted on gypsum board walls which are slowly becoming the norm in modern hospital architecture. Medisystems has installed more than 15,000 such panels in more than 100 hospitals all over the country.
The nurse-call bell function has traditionally been handled through crude (and unsafe) electrical bell systems, borrowed from offices for calling peons. Even today, most electrical plans and tenders for hospitals budget for just such types of systems. These systems function so poorly, that nursing staff routinely have them disabled with the help of ward staff. Electronic nurse-call systems of the type manufactured by Medisystems smoothly overcome all these issues and present the hospital with a patient-friendly, nurse-friendly and administration-friendly solution. Rugged, scalable and loaded with features these systems meet the most stringent requirements of JCI and NABH. Being of indigenous origin they also bear a huge cost advantage over imported systems of similar capability. Medisystems has, to-date, equipped this ultra modern system for more than 40,000 beds in 280 hospitals all over the country.
Similarly, all our infrastructure products are designed to enhance and deliver sustained and reliable service, wherever they are installed. The range of installations extends from huge hospitals in the metros, to more modest establishments in the smaller towns and all the way even to charitable institutions set up in rural areas to take modern healthcare to the village.
Tell us about your recent installations? Are there any new projects or deals in the pipeline for CR Medisystems? How would they impact the company?
We have several project installations afoot at present. Of the 20 under active installation, about a third have opted for the triple combination of bed-head panels, patient-bed lamps and nurse-call systems, the rest have opted for the nurse-call system. In most such cases, their existing electrical contractor and/or gas pipeline commitments prevented them from going in for configured bed-head panels. With the need for the organised management of revenue earning outpatient departments in hospitals and polyclinics, the requirement for our OPD patient-call system has also risen.
We expect to install several such in the next two years. Under our contractual terms our clients do not permit us to publicly name the institutions we are installing in. The impact of all these installations on the company is, however, comfortable. Whenever the hospitals are commissioned, patients benefiting from these facilities will also find them most useful – a source of great satisfaction to the entire Medisystems team.
What are the lessons that we can learn from the global market?
The lessons we can learn from the global market are straightforward. Recognise that the ultimate beneficiary is always the patient and not the hospital. Deliver products of impeccable quality and design, because it is often a life-saving function that is being addressed here.