Hope for Diabetics

Dr Mohan started Dr Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre with four consultant doctors and 20 people. Today, 900 staff with nearly 30 consultants work under this dynamic leader

Dr V Mohan (54) Chairman & Chief Diabetologist Dr Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre, Chennai

Born in 1954 in a small town called North Pudur in Kerala, he did MD in General Medicine from Chennai and also had FRCPs conferred by the Royal Colleges of Physicians of UK and Glasgow. He also has a PhD and DSc from his own institute.

Before an entrepreneur

From his undergraduate days, he started working with his late father Prof M Viswanathan, a renowned diabetologist, who left Stanley Medical College as a professor to start his own practice. He assisted his father in research and even as an undergraduate student had published some research papers. "By the time I finished my final year, I already had a good headstart into diabetes," says he.

From 1981 to 1991, he worked with his father as a diabetologist and a researcher at the MV Hospital for Diabetes and the Diabetes Research Centre at Royapuram in Chennai. In between he was abroad for two years, one year in England for advanced training at the Royal Post Graduate Medical School, London, where he worked as a Wellcome Research Fellow and then in Germany, where he was awarded the Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowship to do research at the University of Ulm under the renowned diabetologist and researcher Prof EF Pfeiffer.

Why an entrepreneur?

By 1990, Dr Mohan and his ophthalmologist wife Dr Rema felt the need to start a centre on their own. "We wanted to fulfill some of the ambitions that we had, particularly to expand our research in a big way apart from providing total diabetes care including complications of diabetes. At that point, we both decided to become entrepreneurs and to start our own group of institutions which now go under the name of 'Dr Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre'," says he.

The first move

His journey to entrepreneurship began in 1991. "We had no funds in the beginning and hence decided to start a private limited company. A few of our close friends and patients joined us as share holders. We also had to take loans and we started in a few rooms in a rented building," says he.

Over the years

Starting off with just four consultant doctors and a staff of 20, today the institute has grown to have a staff strength of 900 employees with nearly 30 consultants. "We have registered close to two lakh patients and is one of the fastest growing diabetes centres in the world," says he.

The group now has a total of six branches of its hospital— three in Chennai, one in Vellore, one in Chunampet in Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu and one in Hyderabad at Jubilee Hills. The Research Foundation (Madras Diabetes Research Foundation) established by him in one room of the hospital in 1996 has also grown extensively and is now located in a 6.5 acre plot with eight scientists and a staff strength of over 60 and over 30,000 square feet.

Awards

He has been conferred with over 70 national and international awards. Prominent among them are the Dr BC Roy Award, Basanti Devi Amirchand Prize by the Indian Council of Medical Research, Harvard Excellence Award from Harvard and numerous fellowships from prestigious bodies.

Fears and apprehensions

He harboured several fears and apprehensions in starting on his own. Firstly, he had very little money. Secondly, he had no prior experience in running an institution on his own. Thirdly, he had moved to southern part of the city, where competition already existed.

"We were also trying several new experiments like providing total diabetes care and we were not sure how it would all work out," he shares.

Overcoming roadblocks

He faced several roadblocks as an entrepreneur. "When you start on your own you have to first establish your brand. Competition was quite intense. Several people tried to block our growth in different ways. We had to build our research again from scratch. We had to take new people and train them, but it was all good fun," says he.

Mistakes made and lessons learnt

Having blind faith in people and overburdening some people who are good with work are two mistakes that he admits to. At times, he also invested in a wrong technology and that backfired. "However, we felt every mistake was a stepping stone to success and that we benefited greatly even from the mistakes that we had made," says he.

Any formal degree in management?

"No. While it is useful to have a degree in management apart from medical degrees, by experience we can always learn and that is probably more useful than an MBA although the latter has its own advantage," he opines.

Tips for entrepreneurship

"Think big but start small, keep expanding, build good teams and take risks," says he.

Entrepreneurs that he admires in healthcare

Dr G Venkataswamy, Chairman, Arvind Eye Care Hospitals, Madurai, who along with his team helped to deliver eye care to millions of people with a very large charity component. The second entrepreneur is Dr K Anji Reddy, Chairman, Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited, who in addition to being an entrepreneur and an industrialist, is also a technocrat and a man with a heart.

The road ahead

He wants to spread awareness and treatment of diabetes to millions of people in India and abroad. "This can be achieved by training hundreds of students at our institute, which is a WHO collaborating entre for NCD. In the field of research, we want to find out why Indians are more prone to diabetes and to take research to translational research level, particularly focusing on prevention of diabetes to bring down the rapidly rising incidence of diabetes in India," says he.