Delivering Quality Healthcare

A joint replacement surgeon, he started Shalby Hospital, Ahmedabad in 1993 with only six beds. Today, he operates two multi-specialty hospitals and plans to establish more facilities in Western India

Dr Vikram Shah (46) Managing Director, Shalby Hospitals, Ahmedabad

Born on 1962 in Ahmedabad, Dr Vikram Shah did his MBBS and MS, Orthopaedics from BJ Medical College, Ahmedabad.

Why an entrepreneur?

Becoming an entrepreneur was not his initial intent. "I see myself as a joint replacement surgeon. I did my work with passion and effort and focused on work. My goal was to reach out to people with the best treatment and world class service that we could offer. This led me to growing Shalby Hospitals into a larger entity not only in joint replacements but also into other super specialties," he says.

Before being an entrepreneur

He worked in Ormskirk and Wrightion Hospital, England for two and a half years and also in Shelby Medical Centre, Burmingham, US, Beth Israel North Hospital, Manhattan New York and Darmstadt Hospital, Darmstadt, Germany.

The first move

After returning to India, he started Shalby Hospitals offering for the first time in the city, Total Knee Replacement (TKR) surgery. The hospital near Vijay Cross Roads was commissioned in 1993 with six beds, one operation theatre, five staff, three level building and a small built-up area. The hospital offered only joint replacement and his dental surgeon wife Dr Darshini Vikram Shah practiced high-end dentistry with oral implantology.

"As it was a small nursing home like infrastructure, it did not require large investment and at that time the joint replacement surgery was not that popular. Hence I took the call and invested in it myself, dipping into my savings from the US/ UK. I also took the help of my family and some bank loans to get started. All our earnings went into re-investment to continuously upgrade the hospital. All through, we managed an equity-debt ratio of 1:4 all the while," says he.

"By self-investment, we became far more complete and competitive. More importantly, we were able to adhere to our values and ethics, in addition to offering healthcare of the highest global standards. It has given us a lot of personal satisfaction," says he.

Over the years

Today, the Vijay Cross Road hospital is a 30-bed multi specialty hospital with two operation theatres, 50 staff, three-level building and over 30,000 square feet built-up area. In 2006, a new 200-bed multi-specialty hospital (with 1,80,000 square feet) Shalby Hospitals on SG Highway was commissioned. "Here, we have a team of specialists that include leading orthopaedic, cardiac, dental, cosmetic physicians and surgeons," says Dr Shah. "We have achieved a growth of over 60 per cent (CAGR) each year. Where we had performed 15 operations during the first year, it grew to 600 about five years ago, but last year alone, we performed around 3,000 operations," he informs.

More than 15,000 joint replacements have been done at Shalby Hospitals till date and the number is growing. "From a turnover of 10 lakh in 1994, we would be having a turnover of over Rs 80 crore for the year end March 2009 and around Rs 120 crore for the year end 2010," says Dr Shah.

Fears and apprehensions

"The surgery which I was performing was new to people and awareness in India was fairly low. I was still comforted by the fact that Gujaratis with their risk taking capabilities were more receptive to newer ideas, especially those from the western world," says he.

"I was also slightly apprehensive about sustaining myself at a personal financial level since we were investing all the money back into Shalby, but in the end it all worked out,"

Overcoming roadblocks

Roadblocks faced by him were in terms of getting the best equipment. "Then over a period of time, my work and its results showed for themselves," he says.

Mistakes made and lessons learnt

He regrets that he should have taken up the new project of the presently constructed Shalby Hospitals on SG Road five years earlier. "The way we were growing in terms of success and volumes, we could have achieved much more and faster," he opines.

Any formal degree in management?

"I hold no degrees in management, but I've always been extremely practical in my approach with attention to detail and focus on building systems and processes. These are very critical, particularly in our profession," says he.

"Even during eras where there were no IIMs or management schools, people did business worth millions of dollars. Some of the well known and respected global corporates were not set up or headed by management graduates," he rationalises.

Tips for entrepreneurship

"Belief in oneself and the power of being driven by ethics and values is important. Also have passion and put in your full effort in what you do. Aim high and have faith in whatever you do, the rest will follow," says he.

An entrepreneur that he admires in healthcare

His idol is not from healthcare but from IT. No prizes for guessing that, it is Narayana Murthy of Infosys. "For setting up an institute of core values which is one of the best in the world. And he did it in the right manner which other entrepreneurs should emulate," says he.

Way Ahead

He wants to take Shalby to the rest of India and abroad. The group is in the process of setting up new hospitals at various locations in Western India. "Planning has begun for a string of multi-specialty hospitals. We are planning for a 350-bed hospital in the outskirts of Ahmedabad, a 100-bed unit in Anand and a 200-bed unit in Surat during 2010," says he. The expansion is planned through private equity, public issue and internal accruals.

"We have already opened up information centers in Dubai and Kenya. Also, we are opening information centres in the US and the UK. We are already operating on patients from the US, the UK, Africa and various other countries. Tele-medicine will play a critical role in this respect," says he.