Catering to the medical needs of the general public in Kolkata, West Bengal and other states in Eastern India and Bangladesh, Mercy Healthcare has come along way. An overview
Mercy Healthcare has nurtured and sustained a unique healthcare delivery model at three levels — a structured free care delivery model through a network of 17 rural clinics, a lower cost and subsidised treatment model delivered through partnerships collaborated through six urban clinic centres and a competitively ‘marked to market’ priced delivery model for sustainability through the multi-speciality hospital in Park Street.
Since its inception in 1977, Mercy Healthcare has made medical care affordable to the general public in Kolkata, West Bengal and other states in Eastern India and Bangladesh. For India as a nation, overpopulation still remains a real issue and the healthcare system remains overburdened. Healthcare the world over has been experiencing its challenges as the burden of diseases is growing and rapidly changing. Health and well-being have been made one of the key priorities of the Government in West Bengal and the hospital is aligning itself with this responsibility advocating preventive rather than curative treatment only.
Mercy Hospital
Nearly four decades ago by opening Mercy Hospital, (the second oldest private healthcare initiative in the city) visionaries Mark and Huldah Buntain cared for the under served in Kolkata. It now stands as a 173-bed institution with 30 medical specialties. As a general medical hospital Mercy Hospital offers the entire suite of services offering round-the-clock emergency, trauma care supported by more than 100 consulting doctors, an efficient laboratory and diagnostic facilitie, a 24-hour pharmacy, three intensive care units and a level-II neo-natal care unit.
Today, Team Mercy, under the leadership of Sanjay Prasad, who is the Executive Director and CEO, besides more than 100 eminent consultants on the panel and experienced nursing and support strength of more than 500 staff, is creating synergies to tap into the potential of the entire team and create a cohesive talent. The mantra – ‘Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to’ – Sir Richard Branson. The core team of administrators, Santanu Lahiri, Dip Sinha, Surojit Ganguly and Philip Bari have remained back at the institution for close to a decade and have grown in their respective roles and across verticals. It is to the institution’s credit that some who have been given opportunities at senior management positions and have been personally groomed have taken on responsibilities at C-level opportunities at other healthcare institutions. It is with this confidence that Mercy Hospital welcomes staff and managers from other industries and battle readies them for healthcare.
Key drivers
Mercy Hospital is deeply appreciative of the efforts of its physicians, nurses and staff managing the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) which is the city‘s very first National Neonatology Forum-accredited Level II NICU. Since its inception, many newborn babies have left the hospital in good health. The NICU under the leadership of Dr Iqbal Ebrahim receives many referral from different parts of the state as well as other neonatal centres.
Children suffering with thallasemia have received care at Mercy Hospital continuously over the years. Every month numerous children receives consultation at the highest clinical level through the expertise and leadership of the eminent haemato-oncologist Dr Barun Banerjee who serves as a guide and counsellor not only to the children but also to their parents.
Started in 2004 as a specialised programme, Mercy Hospital has successfully operated over a 1000 children who needs cleft lip and palate repair. The hospital’s plastic surgeon Dr Arun Ganguly has been a champion of this initiative and his commitment has transformed many. Mercy Hospital is proud of its association with Smile Train, an organisation based in New York City, US founded in 1999 and is the largest charity providing corrective surgery for children with cleft lips and palates ‘one smile at a time’.
The intensive cardiac care unit (ICCU) specialises in cardiac cases while non-cardiac patients who require complex life support are admitted to the intensive therapy unit (ITU). Each centre is fully equipped for emergency procedures like endotracheal intubation, tracheostomy and cardioversion, as well as artificial respiration, temporary pacing and instant blood gas analysis.
The hospital has set up a new operation theatre complex with four OR’s and one dedicated OR for eye surgeries with modern facilities. The dental and eye unit has been revamped with modern medical equipment. Imported eye power testing machines, non-contact tonometre (used for testing eye pressure) and automated field analyser to diagnose nerve damage by glaucoma have been installed. The latest dental chairs with modern X-Ray machines with RVG and intra-oral camera complete the dental department. Orthodontistry and maxillo-facial surgery are also carried out at the hospital by reputed doctors. All these facilities are available at affordable costs and are done with extreme care.
Certifications / accreditations
The hospital has ISO 9001: 2000 QMS, ISO 9001: 2008 QMS, ISO 14001: 2004 EMS and OHSAS 18001: 2007 certifications. With infrastructure dealing with prevention and safety been set in place, the administration has initiated work towards the completion of NABH and NABL accreditations. Acknowledging the hospital’s initiatives and based on the continuous efforts towards improvement, the West Bengal Government has empanelled Mercy Hospital as a Class-I medical service provider.
Mercy Hospital is the only private hospital in Kolkata affiliated to the West Bengal Health University for research work.
Academics
Throughout his association with the hospital, Dr James W Long, President Mercy Hospital, has encouraged its physicians and surgeons to keep up their academic pursuits.
In the area of education, Mercy Hospital has collaborated with Christian Medical College Vellore and is successfully running the Post Graduate Diploma in Family Medicine (PGDFM) for doctors since 2008. Approximately, 2.5 lakh general practitioners have little or no access to post graduate medical education. The MoU ensured that general practitioners from Asansol, Burdwan, Jharkand, Mizoram and Nagaland with many representatives from Kolkata and other parts of Eastern India benefited from this programme which has now grown into a Masters of Medicine in Family Medicine. Dr Jatrik Biswas, alumni of CMC Vellore, has been giving leadership to the programme since its inception. We are proud of his contribution to the initiative. All interested and eligible candidates may apply to Dr Jatrik Biswas at [email protected] or check the website of CMC Vellore for further details.
Mercy Healthcare wishes all participants, past and present the very best as they reach out to serving the many in our country that need the ‘reach of healthcare’ to touch them. This has now evolved into a master’s programme.
The ongoing efforts has also culminated in Mercy Hospital being the only host centre for Certificate Course on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (CCGDM) in collaboration with Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI)and Dr Mohan’s Diabetes Education Academy. This would only be an opportune moment to appreciate the leadership of Dr Suranjan Chakrabarti and Dr Debasish Basu, who have worked tirelessly with their team to set up this initiative.
Mercy School of Nursing
Education has always been the priority of the late Founder, Dr Mark Buntain who strove for ‘Building a better India by building better boys and girls’. A special investment of intent and purpose is provided to the Mercy School of Nursing. Started on March 14, 1979 under the West Bengal Nursing Council and recognised by the Indian Nursing Council, the school thoroughly prepares young girls for flourishing careers in healthcare. The banner flies high with the girls continuously securing state level positions. Credit for running a tight, performance-oriented institute needs to be given to Sushma Samuel, Principal, and the entire team of dedicated teachers and staff at Mercy School of Nursing. The girls have achieved state positions in their examinations.
As part of the synergy, to create a greater relevance and exchange emphasis with the western world, Mercy Hospital and Mercy School of Nursing have created associations and collaborations with Azusa Pacific University, Buntain School of Nursing, North West University, South Eastern University from the US and Vasterhojd Gymnasium Skovde School of Nursing from Sweden. These collaborations have been helpful for the students providing cross-cultural experiences for the students of both countries.
Mercy Clinics Network
‘Healthcare is for all and must reach all’ is a dream, which is deeply imbedded with challenges. The age old, affordability, accessibility has its own set of issues. With most of the rural population needing healthcare touch points, Mercy Healthcare took a decision to invest in Mercy Clinic Network in order to take healthcare to the masses. In a few years, the network expanded to include 17 clinics across the states of West Bengal and Odisha. The vision is to geographically map the traffic to include services that would be beneficial to the people of that region. With swelling in footfalls, the clinics could then be upgraded to 10 to 25-bed primary healthcare centres. It has been an honour for Mercy Healthcare that Harvard Medical School and Mass General Hospital, Boston undertook a study to understand better this initiative and partner with Mercy Hospital.
Social responsibility
Mercy Healthcare has been at the forefront of being socially sensitive in the areas of healthcare, education, nutrition and advocacy. For further details on how you can impact and for contributing to causes please contact Ps Philip Bari, Coordinator Social Services at [email protected]
Looking ahead
Due to the recent restructuring and upgradation of infrastructure for prevention and safety needs at the hospital, a fair number of operating beds had to be decommissioned. Plans are on to expand a complete wing for critical care services to take the number of licensed beds to 250. Plans are also on to bring all services hitherto scattered across three buildings under one roof. With a strong emphasis being driven at the hospital, plans are on to create a Mercy Institute of Diabetes & Hormonal Disorders.
Mercy School of Nursing
The reality of nursing being a high attrition-related occupation, the emphasis is to create a bigger pipeline of nursing candidates. The initiative would be to increase the number of seats at the GNM School of Nursing to at least 50 per batch and to set up the College of Nursing offering BSc in Nursing. Land for the same has already been purchased and plans are on for initiating construction.
Mercy Clinics network
From a network of 17 clinics plans are afoot to increase it to 40 Mercy Clinics over the next few years.
Sanjay Prasad, Executive Director & CEO has forged ahead with the maxim – “… withhold not good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so”, being at the convergence of healthcare service and industry represented by AHEI, BCCI, CII, FICCI, ICC, NatHealth etc. Prasad expresses his appreciation at the initiatives taken by the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Minister of Health Chandrima Bhattacharya, Principal Secretary Health, Malay De and the entire team for their addressing of the various concerns of the healthcare community at large in the state of West Bengal.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
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