The Transplant Czar

A GI surgeon, he set up Global Hospitals, Hyderabad in 1999 with only 50-beds. Now, the group has over 10 hospitals and a turnover of over Rs 100 crore

Dr Kancherla Ravindranath (52) Chairman, Global Hospitals

Born in 1956 in a small village Chiramana of Nellore district, he graduated from Shri Venkateswara Medical College, Tirupati in 1980 and attained his Masters in Surgery in 1984 from Madras University. He obtained his FRCS from Glasgow and Edinburgh and practiced for seven years in hospitals like Kings College Hospitals, Hammersmith Hospital and Saint Mark's Hospital.

Before being an entrepreneur

After returning to India in 1990, he set up the department of surgical gastroenterology and laparoscopy in Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad which he headed till 1999.

Why an entrepreneur

Working closely with the King's College Hospital's liver transplant team and Hammersmith Hospital in the UK spurred Dr Ravindranath's desire to establish transplantation facilities of similar standards in India. "I always wanted to be a good surgeon and wanted to provide the highest quality healthcare and cutting edge technologies to patients, including complex surgeries like liver transplantation. As this was not possible in the hospital where I was working, I felt the need for having a hospital focused on these aspects, which prompted me to start a hospital and became an entrepreneur," says he.

The first move

Thus he set up Global Hospitals, Hyderabad in 1999 with only 50 beds. Andhra Pradesh State Financial Corporation funded the project. "Very soon I expanded the hospital as first multi-organ transplantation centre in the country which was funded by Technology Development Board," says he. Today, this 200-bed multi-specialty hospital is focusing on tertiary and multi-organ transplantation centre.

Over the years

He has built a healthcare empire comprising 10 hospitals, out of which two major hospitals are in Hyderabad with a bed capacity of 200 and 350. It also has a 500-bed BGS Global Hospital in Bangalore with five spokes— together having 200-bed capacity. Global Health City in Chennai, which started functioning with 500 beds, soon will become 1,000-bed hospital.

Global Hospitals is working on a strategy of networking itself with various towns, cities and taluk headquarters so that the healthcare services are available for all. The group recently sold 25 per cent of its stake to Indivision India Partners to raise capital to fuel expansion plans.

"We are building 400-bed Global hospital at Parel, Mumbai and 500-bed Global Hospital in Kolkata and 300-bed Global Hospital in Bhubaneswar. All these three hospitals will be ready in 12 to 24 months," says he. The group right now has 2,000 employees and in a year’s time it will have 4,000 employees. "Our turnover is over Rs 100 crore last year and in a year it will be over Rs 200 crore. This spurt is due to many beds which became functional in the last few months," says he.

His contribution to healthcare

He has led the hospital to perform the first heart transplantation, first liver transplantation and first bone marrow transplantation in AP. Global Hospital is actively working on other exciting areas in healthcare like stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine, clinical research and drug development, retail healthcare and referral laboratory services.

The hospital claims that it is the first timer in the country to conduct simultaneous heart and kidney transplant for the same patient and the liver for another patient was performed successfully all on the same day. Stem-cell research laboratory worth Rs 1.5 crore has also been developed by the hospital.

It is the first corporate hospital to be recognised as a research centre by the R&D wings of the Department of Industrial Research Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. Global Hospitals is engaged in continuous research and clinical trials to improve patient care and bring down costs. Under his guidance, the hospital became the first hospital in Andhra Pradesh to be recognised by the National Board of Examinations, New Delhi, for conducting a superspeciality course—DNB in GI Surgery.

Awards

He has won ANR Award for outstanding performance in healthcare delivery, best innovative product/ service award in healthcare with highest societal impact for conducting organ transplantation in AP from Federation of AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Fears and apprehensions

He claims he did not have any fear when he started out as he along with his team members were dedicated in providing quality healthcare. "Only fear was managing finances and large number of people. However, that was not so difficult because I was leading the whole organisation from the front and I was committed to my patients. Most of the people who joined in different capacities followed the same philosophy," says he.

Overcoming roadblocks

He has also faced ‘irritations’ in getting the project done on time. "We need to factor the delay and the main road block is Human Resources in our country due to poor planning of training for future needs and Government controlling most of the training of medical professionals and support services," says he.

Mistakes made and lessons learnt

He admits to his mistakes of failing to judge capabilities of people and thus hiring some wrong people for the job. "Out of passion to create excellence in healthcare, I fritted lot of money. This extra spending on technology and infrastructure did give us a high quality brand though," says he.

Any formal degree in management?

"No, but in London as well as in India I learnt what not to do and what is right for the patients. Having management degree might help in organising things better. However, I have appointed several doctors with management degrees," he says.

Tips for entrepreneurship

"An entrepreneur needs to have passion, dedication, be committed to the cause of providing global standard healthcare delivery with a good financial understanding. It is important to manage people well and make them partners in the growth," he suggests.

An entrepreneur that he admires in healthcare

He admires Dr PC Reddy of Apollo Hospitals for his vision and Dr GN Rao of LV Prasad Eye Hospital as a great international quality institution builder.

Road ahead

"We would like to be a tertiary care provider in all the metros in the next two years. And in three years' time, we should have over 4,000 beds across the country. We are gearing up with our human resources and attracting talent from across the world for the great cause of providing global standard healthcare which is value for money to people of our country as well as other countries," says he.