Our mission is to bring healthcare of international standards within the reach of every individual

Which are the key issues that contribute to the confirmed success of Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals (AGH), Kolkata?

Dr Rupali Basu

‘Hospital’ as a service industry is a quite dynamic and experience-centric, emotion dependent and faith driven organisation. One way it is highly technical and on the other it is very much people dependent. Therefore it will be quite impossible to determine a single success factor of a hospital. We consider timely decision-making processes as the key success factor, technology upgradation and first mover advantage is the success factor of Apollo Hospital or getting highly talented clinicians from each and every corner of the world may be considered as the key success factor. But I personally consider that high-end medical care with tender loving care can create a difference and set a benchmark in the community.

When we are discussing about the key success factors, we should not ignore business intelligence (BI) integrator to execute smooth hospital management. It helps us to decrease cost and maximise control. In our hospital, we have taken lean six sigma improvement projects and implement them into the ongoing hospital operations and enhancements. There is a highly logical implication of the team approach. In a summary, there is now substantial scope to create experience and I personally consider the same as the greatest branding tool.

What are the national and international accreditations won by the hospital?

The hospital has a number of National and International accreditations. The Gold standard of Quality Healthcare Organization- is the Joint Commission International Accreditation (JCIA). Our hospital is accredited by JCIA since the last five years. AGH, Kolkata is still the only hospital which is JCI accredited in the East. Apart from JCIA, our lab is accredited by NABL, the hospital food services is accredited by HASSAP, and the Nursing College is accredited by ISO9001-2008 etc. So from patient care to education, we bagged recognition for quality standardisation.

What are some of the key facilities available at the hospital?

We are the multi-speciality, quaternary care hospital. We provide 360 degree clinical service, starting from high-end cardiac surgery, liver transplantation, bone marrow transplantation to cancer care. We perform almost every possible treatment and diagnostic modalities available under the sun.

What are the steps taken to ensure sound health of corporate India?

Apollo Health Check (AHC) is the key runner of the wellness drive of India.

The Chairman of Apollo Group has received Padma Vibhushan award. What do you have to say on this?

Our Chairman, Dr Prathap C Reddy was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for his contribution to the emergence of the private healthcare sector and his role in bringing about several regulatory changes in the year 1991.

Could you elaborate on the first installation of 128 slice ingenuity PET-CT Position emission Tomography.

We have introduced the country’s most advanced ‘128 Slice Ingenuity PET CT- Positron Emission Tomography” for the people of Eastern India. PET CT is a medical imaging technique using a device which combines in a single gantry system both a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Computed Tomography. The images acquired from both devices can be taken sequentially, in the same session from the patient and combined into a single superposed image. This is then used for exposing the occurrence of fatal diseases like cancer at a pre-mature stage.

The Ingenuity 128 PET CT at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals is the first installation of its kind in the world with Astonish 3rd generation time-of-flight technology.

The PET CT scan which is a non-invasive molecular imaging technique produces three dimensional images of functional or biochemical processes in the body. In cancer and other diseases, biochemical or functional changes often precede structural changes. Hence, PET identifies the disease earlier than tests that rely on detecting a mass. Biochemical or functional images of the PET are then combined with CT information which can be obtained at the same time using the hospital’s state-of-the-art machine. While PET identifies abnormal biochemistry or disease, CT is used for precise anatomical localisation and measuring of the biochemical process.

It has actually revolutionised many fields of medical diagnosis, by adding precision functional imaging, which was previously lacking from pure CT imaging. For example, in oncology, planning, radiation and cancer staging has been changing rapidly under the influence of PET-CT availability. The new PET CT facility will enable our doctors to get the best quality images to base their treatment on, with 30 per cent better clarity than other PET scanners. It will also benefit the patients with less time required for the scan, as well as up to 50 per cent reduction in amount of radiation.

What is your mission?

Our mission is to bring healthcare of international standards within the reach of every individual. We are committed to the achievement and maintenance of excellence in education, research and healthcare for the benefit of humanity.