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The 9th Healthcare East was organised by the CII Eastern Region in Kolkata recently, wherein the way ahead was sought through a day long deliberation to look for “a step towards better care through better infrastructure.” Highlighting the importance accorded to healthcare by the Government of West Bengal, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal said that a medical college will be set up at Kurseong near Darjeeling. Informing that the medical college will be set up through a PPP model, she also mentioned that the district hospitals at Purulia, Cooch Behar, Raiganj, Rampurhat and Diamond Harbour will be converted into full-fledged medical colleges. This, she felt would be achieved over the next two years. She also said that the government has decided to set up 51 high-end diagnostic centres through the PPP mode and, in a bid to set up more hospitals, as many as 34 hospitals are under construction while six more are to be built. “High-end diagnostic centres with facilities for dialysis, MRI, CT scan, physiotherapy, and 24×7 healthcare help-lines will be set up across the state,” she informed. She urged the implementation of the PPP model to further enhance healthcare facilities in the state while assuring full cooperation and support for facilitating investment proposals to provide the necessary infrastructural support and ensure timely statutory clearances. She also launched a CII-Grant Thornton Knowledge Paper titled ‘The Eastern Highway – Progressing Towards Smarter Health for All’.
Later, speaking at the conference, Malay Kumar De, State Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare said that the tendering process for the medical college has already begun and informed that the “51 diagnostic centres will start functioning by December this year.” He also said that the state is contemplating the launch of a ‘Paramedical Council’ in lines of the Indian Medical Council with the objective to “produce quality manpower required to serve the vast untapped healthcare sector.” “With the primary objective of producing good doctors and high-quality support staff, the state government has laid its focus on attracting investments from the private sector for medical education and training. The industry needs atleast 40,000-50,000 medical personnel. The state government has already set up a steering committee to attract private sector investments,” he said.
He appealed to investors “to look beyond Kolkata” and invest in tier-II and III cities in the state. He further stated that business breakeven might be slow but in terms of volume of business, there will be reasons to be “more than happy”.
According to Suyash Borar, Chairman, Healthcare subcommittee, CII – Eastern Region & CEO CMRI Hospital, running hospitals entail a range of challenges and “controlling costs and generating revenues is a daunting task”. The major challenge lay in reducing operating costs but at the same time maintaining high quality and efficiency. He felt that there was a need for technology-driven facilities with “IT increasingly playing a core role in every aspect of healthcare value chain to ensure faster adaptability of advanced technologies, reduction of service costs and provision of quality healthcare at affordable prices.”
Plenary – I
Smart hospitals
Designing to offer quality service to an ever increasing number of patients is a great challenge. Kunal Bhattacharya, Principal Architect, RJB Associates, posed several questions such as, “What is smart? Is it to define cleverly? Should hospital facilities be so that it does not drive a patient broke?” The answers perhaps lie in designing smart hospitals that are cost effective, functional, aesthetic and also fit for Indian conditions and not a mere copy of the West.
Giving the promoter’s perspective in planning and designing a smart and sustainable hospital, Ayanabh Debgupta Co-Founder, Medica Synergie said that effective treatment is possible through a smartly designed hospital that is supported by a good team. He stressed on “effective usage of archived data and learning from the past.”
Vinay Kothari, MD, Hospi Health spoke on how smart design solutions for sustainable healthcare in India can save costs that can be passed on to patients. A good research team can help reduce costs that can ultimately be passed on to patients. Biswarup Ghosh, Healthcare Head, Linde India gave insights on medical gas lay-out in the new generation hospitals.
Dr Rana Mukherjee, MD, Care Continuum stressed on the need for a comprehensive and coherent medical planning where requirements of all stakeholders are addressed. Smart, in his opinion, is a facility that allows re-engineering at all levels in the most cost effective manner.
Prabir Bose, Director-in-charge, Woodland Multispeciality Hospital stressed on the aspect of retrofitting new facilities – a challenge for age-old structures.
Plenary – II
Integrating sustainable technology
As the world gets closer with the use of effective technology, healthcare is also leveraging it for progress? We have it all, from futuristic apps to machines dispensing prescriptions and tele-medication. Apple has come up with a hand-held device that records all data of a patient, supports medical intervention with a back-up database and allows discussion facility for all and at every level of service in a hospital environment. Ahanaa Bhattacharya of Macintel Solutions explained about the application that promises to do away with the heaps of papers and possible human errors in data input
Jitin Chandna, Founder and Managing Partner of MedVend Enterprises, found that railway stations in India have everything except a medicine shop. So he came up with a chain of health kiosks to dispense medicines, measure blood sugar and perform the basic jobs of paramedics. According to Chandna, the kiosks serves as a bridge between the doctor and the patient by enabling the two to talk despite being away. The kiosks will find application in large offices, apartment buildings and in all areas where people gather.
Talking of yet another future application, Nitin Kashyap, Head of Telemedicine, Prognosys Medical Systems said being net-based it allows remote area accessibility. There are specific times slotted for various specialists that are declared well in time for patients to log in. Thus there are cardiac doctors, ophthalmologists and general physicians on call at specified times. It has gained popularity in Maharashtra and has an immense usage potentiality in the North East.
Ratul Mazumder, Assistant VP, Godrej Interio spoke on the new designs available in hospital furniture while Amit Choudhury, Founder CEO, Nick IT Solutions explained in detail the cloud and tap-based digital solutions available for all patients’ information. Ashish Chhawchharia, Practice Head, Eastern Region, Grant Thornton India presented an overview of the report.
The session was moderated by Sanjay Prasad, Executive Director & CEO, Mission of Mercy Hospital and Research Centre.
Plenary – III
Accreditation to help improve facilities
The last plenary session of the conference discussed on how accreditation can improve quality of healthcare facilities in hospitals. Quality of service leads to patients’ dependence and acceptance of services that eventually leads to financials improving for the hospitals.
Speaking from his personal experience as a practising cardiac surgeon, Dr Kunal Sarkar, Sr Vice-Chairman, Medica Superspeciality Hospitals said that the quality of service following accreditation and standardisation has gone though a sea of welcome change. However as quality is a practice that may vary in perception, there has to be uniformity in its understanding and perception. It is after all a philosophy and not just a requirement.
According to Dr SP Singh, CEO Healthcare, CK Birla Group, healthcare delivery in private and public hospitals is diverse and quality is not defined. So, accreditation helps set standards and is an influencer to service by setting benchmarks. “Quality comes from accreditation stating what needs to be different,” he said.
According to Richa Deb Gupta, Zonal Director, Fortis Healthcare, there ought to be a platform to share experiences to help set standards. She pointed out that practising hospitals do not share data but it is primary to set accreditation standards.
Dr Singh pointed out that 80 per cent of the healthcare service providers are from the unorganised sector, leaving a huge gap in standardising their services. Dr Sujoy Ranjan Deb, Head of Quality, Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospitals urged on the necessity of setting one’s own benchmark.
Dr Pramod Kumar Sharma, Chairman, Pratiksha Group highlighted the hurdles faced in accreditation as it becomes difficult to ascertain and standardise the performances of various machinery used in hospitals, particularly the ones procured from abroad. He was of the opinion that certification has to be in totality, encompassing man and machine.
Dr KK Kalra, CEO, NABH told the house that accreditation eventually leads to patients’ safety. It cannot be for privately owned hospitals in isolation and government hospitals have to come forward too.
