India’s healthcare sector presents a unique proposition to entrepreneurs and investors. The escalating demand for healthcare as well as the talent to provide these services exists, but the challenge lies in translating this opportunity into reality.
One of the biggest challenges is converting a blue print into the physical reality of a hospital. Several promising projects have died a premature death as construction deadlines go awry. The reasons range from delayed government permissions to shortage of labour and materials, which finally lead to the promoters running out of funds or investors losing patience and cutting the credit line. Even after a facility is commissioned, there are numerous instances where entire floors need to be redesigned due to poor planning at the blue print stage. If this is common among corporate hospitals, the challenge is even greater when it comes to refurbishing century-old trust hospitals.
It is in this scenario that Express Healthcare presents ‘HOSPINFRA’, as an extension of our Hospital Infrastructure section within our regular issue, where we analyse the changing dynamics of healthcare infrastructure in India and the trends and techniques that could shape the sector.
In this edition, we spotlight the application of pre-fabricated or modular construction in hospitals. A growing number of hospitals are moving away from traditional means of construction, which is time-consuming and opting for modular construction techniques to create quality facilities. Upfront, this might be a costlier option, but faster commissioning of a facility could mean faster revenues which will no doubt build the credibility of the project team as well.
One thing is certain: project management teams need to think out of the box and be on the look out for the best construction techniques suited to the realities of the Indian healthcare industry as well as the socio-economic issues of our country.
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