“GMP plans to take hospital infrastructure to a new level”

Prashant Kavale – Director GMP Technical Solutions elaborates on his company’s offerings and its future plans

What are GMP Technical’s offerings for the hospital sector?

Prashant Kavale Director, GMP Technical Solutions

GMP Technical Solutions (GMPTS) specialises in turnkey solutions for the clean room industry. As a design-led company, we provide a range of solutions for hospitals – from operating rooms to various allied services involved, it is only the applications that vary from one situation to another.

Our team has experience with practically every type of pharmaceutical company in the industry, not overlooking the many diverse smaller companies we have dealt with. This vast bank of knowledge puts us in a position of being able to provide clients with the very best that modern day medical turnkey solutions has to offer.

We can offer clients complete turnkey solutions for hospitals if required, starting from the design stage right up to the finished product. Our experienced team of dedicated professionals are at the very peak of their chosen fields, with expertise including all aspects right from design, civil, mechanical, consulting, validation, and documentation up to training.

What are your specialised products/ services for large and mid-sized hospitals?

Our turnkey solutions offer clients the very best services available in the field of medical design and build today. We offer dependable services coupled with superlative rates and impeccable quality, all delivered within the customer’s time scales.

Large as well as mid-sized hospitals demand the very best in terms of quality. GMP norms cater to this need in today’s fast moving technologically advanced environment by continually evolving and staying ahead in the game. Being clean room experts, we are in a position to build modular operating theatres in the literal sense of the term. We manufacture clean room modular partitions in various material of construction (MOCs)– stainless steel (SS), galvanised iron (GI), high pressure laminates (HPL) and glass reinforced polymer (GRP) in-house. These are used for walls as well as ceilings. Our partitions are free-standing structures designed and constructed in such a way so as to incorporate/conceal all utilities and services like pipes, conduits, etc. within the panels itself so that everything is flush with the modular surface. We also manufacture laminar air flows (LAFs) and pass boxes for operating theatres. These products are manufactured under one roof and subsequently all metal forming, finishes, extrusions and assemblies are completed in-house with the result that specific requirements can be incorporated into your design requirements.

Other offerings of GMP include various components such as hermetically sealed sliding doors, conductive vinyl flooring, peripheral clean room lights, surgeon control panels, scrub sinks, X-ray view boxes, writing boards, electrical wiring, medical gas piping, HVAC ducting, etc. Where services are concerned, we have dedicated in-house teams of experts for all utilities – HVAC, electrical, plumbing, BMS, IBMS, IT and networking as well as civil and interiors. We conduct validation as per international guidelines such as USFDA & EUGMP, WHO, HTM 2025, NABH, etc.

What market opportunities lie ahead for GMP Technical in the healthcare space?

The Indian healthcare industry is set for growth at a rapid pace and is expected to become a $280 billion industry by 2020. In this year itself, the healthcare industry is expected to increase to $60 billion wherein $20 billion is accounted for private spending.

Firstly, current statistics point to the overall low number of beds, physicians and nurses as compared to other developing countries and international averages. In order to meet manpower shortage and keep abreast with world standards, India would be required to invest up to a tune of $20 billion over the next five years. This would translate into an additional requirement of 750,000 beds (from 1.5 million today to 2.25 million in 2012). So, the hospital infrastructure vertical is expected to grow by leaps and bounds.

Secondly, hospital buildings are highly engineered. Adherence to engineering standards makes accreditation mandatory in India. Client understanding of the technicalities involved in smaller and most mid-sized hospitals is low. GMP being a highly specialised technical company foresees the huge market opportunity that remains to be tapped.

Thirdly, percentage-wise, smaller hospitals in cities as well as rest of the country account for a much higher figure as compared to the bigger hospitals in metro cities. This fact needs to be worth considering as a unique marketing opportunity.

Fourthly, medical tourism also necessitates compliance to global benchmarks. This translates into more hospitals requiring compliance with standards – yet another opportunity.

How to bridge the gap between price and quality while setting up hospital infrastructure?

Every sector is price-conscious. More so in the case of hospitals with a very precious commodity at stake – life of the patients! Doctors expect only the best for their hospitals, but there is a need to create awareness amongst the doctors that quality comes at a price. With advancements in technology, GMP takes special pride in offering an array of options to suit everybody’s budgets. GMP boasts of sandwich type panels that are free-standing; which mean that construction of civil walls is not required. These panels are double skinned, so that even SS panels may be offered at lower rates by constructing panels with SS sheets on one side and GI sheets on the other.

GMP has on its offerings, glass reinforced polymer panels for larger hospitals, for which price may not be an issue. GRP is a superlative material, currently being promoted for OTs. The fascinating attributes of GRP are its light weight and durability. Its astonishing toughness makes it a favourable choice as constructional material. GRP is available in a wide variety of colours, is easy to erect and dismantle and very easily repaired in case of damage.

GMP is very confident that once the material and its unique features are understood by the market, it will be the preferred choice in the hospital OT market.

What are the USPs of GMP Technical?

We guide clients to make the right decisions for their hospital. We offer consultancy services for all possible parameters involved in building operating theatres or designing services for hospitals. It implies that the client has more time to take care of his core business, and GMP can ensure that the equipments are installed and maintained in compliance to international standards. We are a single point of contact for the implementation of all the equipment in your facility, both GMP and non-GMP. We manage the procurement, logistics, installation, commissioning and training throughout the duration of your project.

What are the industry challenges in your business?

The hospital infrastructure sector is still in its nascent stages and fragmented. There are many local players in the market who are technologically incompetent to design and erect an operating theatre. Small hospitals still follow conventional methods of constructing OTs. Doctors not conversant with engineering nitty-gritties are reluctant to invest in advanced technologies. We have come of an age where accredited hospitals are the norm to be met. The need of the hour is to educate them about technicalities and standards. All contractors are unable to meet stringent standards.

There is a need to bridge the gap between the lack of knowledge on the doctors’ part and the lack of competency on the contractors’ part. Unlike bigger hospitals, where consultants are appointed for ensuring compliance to standards, mid-sized and smaller hospitals lack this privilege. This coupled with their lack of knowledge about infrastructure set-up technicalities makes it a cumbersome task to convince them about the need to go in for engineered and technically sound products like modular partitions, laminar air flows and hermetically sealed sliding doors to name a few.

What are the future plans for the company?

In the years to come, GMP plans to take hospital infrastructure to a new level and enable affordable solutions at the doorstep of every hospital. Through consistent investments in R&D, an innovative approach to design and an emphasis on product quality and service, we aim to become the leading specialists in providing customised solutions in outfitting and refurbishment projects with the support of our esteemed clients. Our thrust on international business has seen overseas earnings grow significantly. Expanding our marketing and distribution network globally is next on our list of to-do things.