While a lot of industry experts feel that venturing into B-towns, Tier II and III cities can be a profitable bet to healthcare providers, Wockhardt hospitals opts to focus more on metros, especially Mumbai. Zahabiya Khorakiwala, MD, Wockhardt Hospitals in a free-wheeling conversation, explains the strategy and benefits behind Wockhardt focus on metros cities such as Mumbai
What are the core principles that you follow at Wockhardt?
We strongly believe in the principal of quality and collaboration. All our efforts are put in providing quality care to our patients and all this is done with a collaborative approach among doctors, nurses, paramedic and the support staff. We believe in staying ahead in terms of skills and focus on constant upgradation of our knowledge. Our goal at Wockhardt Hospitals is to set clinical benchmarks in quality and contemporary treatments in the tertiary and quaternary care space.
Tell us about Wockhardt Hospitals’s current strengths?
Focus on Quality and Patient Care – With 2,600 number of employees, we at WHL practice highest quality standard to deliver superior clinical care. We have ensured that all our hospitals are NABH accredited and also the group’s flagship Hopsital the “New Age Wockhardt Hospitals” at Mumbai Central has received the coveted JCI accreditation within first three and half years of its operation.
Group of Hospitals – Being a group of seven super-speciality tertiary & quaternary care hospitals hospitals has its own merits such as –
- Exchange of best practices,
- Patients transfer/ mobility,
- Doctors/ Consultant expertise sharing
Strong presence in Mumbai – We have seven hospitals in total with three hospitals in Mumbai of about 750 beds all together. We are able to bring in new modalities of treatment and easily incorporate it in our Mumbai hospitals because it is a metro city with an appetite for innovation.
Wockhardt Hospitals was also associated with Boston based Partners Medical International (PMI) for 17 years. This exclusive association gave Wockhardt Hospitals access to a network of Harvard-affiliated hospitals around the world and their immense expertise and knowledge, ensuring that we adopt and deliver global best practices at our super-speciality tertiary care hospitals.
What are the advantages of having a strong presence in a city like Mumbai?
A strong presence in a city like Mumbai has various advantages –
Faster adoption of innovative approaches – At Wockhardt Hospitals we have a strong focus on research and development of innovative clinical approaches and procedure to better serve our patients. In Mumbai with a wider spectrum of demographics the adoption of such innovations is faster.
Presence of eminent super-specialists – In Mumbai, the country’s leading super-specialists are associated with Wockhardt Hospitals. Hence, the commencement of our various accomplished programmes like multi-organ transplants and pediatric-cardiac started from Mumbai. Equipped with the learnings from our Mumbai hospitals, we replicated such programmes in our non-Mumbai based hospitals.
So, is the pediatric cardiac space a profitable solution for you?
In India, over two lakh children are born every year with congential heart diseases (CHD). To make the situation worse, many families are not able to afford the cost of available treatment at corporate/ private medical centres. Aware of this grim reality, we established state-of-the-art Wockhardt Paediatric and Congential Heart Centre at Wockhardt Hospital, Mumbai Central. For us the aim of this programme is to meet this unmet need in the community maintaining highest standards of quality care in this specialised surgery space.
For the people who can’t afford the CHD surgery for their children we provide the same at a subsidised rate and also we have partnered with various foundations and charities which provide further financial support to them.
What is your outlook on the future healthcare business?
The healthcare business and all its constituents/ stakeholders are evolving at a fast pace and the future looks radically different from present. For example –
Greater penetration/ adaptation of technology with digitisation and creation of integrated patient-centric databases is changing the nature of how healthcare operates. Also, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning led clinical care will be the game-changer.
Increasing awareness among patients – People are equipped with easy access to information through google and other online resources, and they expect better service, faster diagnoses and treatments. This will lead to higher quality focus in the healthcare Industry
Human Capital – Given the demographic and Industrial growth markers of our country, the future of Healthcare business is bright provided Human Capital needs (Nurses and Doctors) can be bridged urgently.
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