From Strength to Strength

He returned to India to start KIMS in 2002 as a 250-bed hospital. Today, he has expanded the group to roll out hospitals in GCC countries

Dr MI Sahadullah (63) Chairman & Managing Director Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thirivananthapuram

Born on June, 1945, Thiruvanthapuram, he did his MBBS from Medical College of Thiruvanthapuram, MD (General Medicine) in Medical College of Thiruvanthapuram, MRCP (General Medicine), Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Dublin, FRCP from Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Dublin, FRCP from Royal College of Physicians of London and MBA from Center for Management Studies, University of Hull, UK in 1998.

Before being an entrepreneur

From 1969 onwards, he practiced medicine for about 25 years before deciding to become an entrepreneur. He worked in Medical College Hospitals, Calicut as Assistant Professor of Medicine. Then, for a year and half he worked in Colchester and Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham under the National Health Services and then joined Saudi Aramco at Saudi Arabia in 1976.

Why an entrepreneur?

Even if he started enjoying management of healthcare center in Saudi Aramco, he wanted to take the challenge of entrepreneurship. "I also felt that there are so many useful systems and disciplines we used to practice there, but are not found in the healthcare in India. Implementing them here will be useful for healthcare delivery in our country," he states.

The first move

Encouraged by his family, colleagues and friends, he decided to return to India to start a corporate hospital. "A group of like-minded professionals based in the GCC countries and India joined hands to make a healthcare institution with a difference. The objective was to provide a world class healthcare services and specialised medical facilities at an affordable cost," says he. In 1997, the construction of the then 250-bed hospital started. The hospital was commissioned in January 2002.

An amount Rs 42 crore required for the first phase was pumped in from his own savings and contributions from his friends. "After the building took off the ground, various financial institutions joined with us for further development of the hospital," says he.

Fears and apprehensions

His main fear was with such huge investment whether he would be able to live up to the expectations of co-investors and friends. "I was also apprehensive about whether we can succeed by following strict ethical practices in our country," he confides.

Overcoming roadblocks

Roadblocks were mainly related to finance, human resources and statutory. "The only way we could overcome these problems was by teamwork. Different people in the team had different skills and capabilities, which we had to utilise to get out of the roadblocks," he states.

Mistakes made and lessons learnt

In a hurry to start against the odds, he admits that he has compromised on areas like a disciplined organisational structure, which hindered in implementing professionalism. "Introducing professionalism from the very beginning in corporate

governance was an important tool for success. It took us a few years to bring it back to the track and correct some of the mistakes made in this area. There were compromises also in the facility due to the lack of expertise in hospital construction. Today, if I have to do it again, I will make the rules and regulations in corporate governance before the operation starts," he shares.

Over the years

KIMS is now a multi speciality referral centre of 450 beds. The hospital attained breakeven in the second year of operations. "In the first year, the revenue was Rs 1,442.43 lakh and in the current fiscal it was Rs 5,601 lakh," informs Dr Sahadullah. Today, its average annual turnover is Rs 3,417.89 lakh.

One of Asia's leading tertiary care hospitals, KIMS has now expanded its realm of operations and diversified into various aspects of healthcare under the name KIMS Healthcare Management Limited (KHML). The groups' major areas of operations include setting up of multispecialty hospitals and polyclinics in India and the Middle East countries — focusing on safe and quality healthcare. He has also extended the expertise to more geographical areas through the management consultancy wing— KIMS Management International, which led to development of ‘Medilogics’, an advanced hospital information system.

The Middle East operations of KIMS include centres at Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman. KIMS Saudi Medical Centre, Jubail is medical centre with diagnostic centre and day care beds, situated in Jubail Industrial City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The center has been commissioned in May 2008.

They also have introduced academic institutes to train healthcare professionals sensitive in safe and quality patient care. As part of this, KIMS School of Nursing was established in the year 2004 and College of Nursing in the year 2006. KIMS Post Graduate Institutes and Allied Health Sciences have also been introduced recently.

KIMS in 2006 successfully completed both NABH and ACHSI accreditation. KIMS is also certified by NABL and ISO certified by British Institute for Standardisation.

Tips for entrepreneurship

"Ethical practice should be up held at all times and I believe that it can still succeed in India. Implement professionalism from the beginning without compromise and encourage team work and participatory management," he suggests.

The road ahead

He is planning to expand healthcare facilities in South India and also expand into GCC countries. "We want to enter into the healthcare market in the Sultanate of Oman by establishing a mid-size hospital with 45 to 52 beds, with critical care beds and surgical facilities catered by a 24-hour emergency department and a full-fledged outpatient and diagnostic department," says he.

It is also starting a comprehensive oncology center in Thirivananthapuram. KIMS has made a joint venture company with California Oncology Group and 21st Century Oncology Centre, USA for this. "The oncology center will be providing treatment with the state-of-the-art radiation oncology equipment, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Medical oncology will be using the latest treatment with national and international protocols and KIMS California Comprehensive Cancer Cancer will be starting in three months. Experts from US visited KIMS and finalised all the equipment and facility requirements," says he.

An entrepreneur that he admires in healthcare

"I admire Dr Prathap C Reddy for his courage to be a pioneer in private healthcare in India," says he.