Spotlight

NCR's Latest Pride

The 400-bed multi super-speciality hospital with a helipad and thrust on medical tourism will be fully operational from the next financial year, finds out Sonal Vij

As one enters Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, via National Highway 24, one can view the sky high buildings and small nursing homes, but would feel the absence of a hospital that promises quality healthcare, until you spot Pushpanjali Crosslay Hospital (PCH) after a 15-minute drive.

The 400-bed PCH is being built on 3.46 acre of land. After its soft launch in December last year, workers are now seen giving finishing touch, as the time for commissioning of the project approaches. The first phase with 150 beds will be operational by the end of March 2009. The second phase with 275 beds will be operational by the end of this year. By March 2010, the third and final phase of 420 beds will be commissioned.

The Hospital is conveniently accessible to people from NCR Delhi, West Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Uttarakhand. Its super speciality trauma care facility, the only such centre on NH 24, will facilitate quick response to any natural or man-made disaster in this region.

The Conception

"The Hospital has been built keeping in mind the norms of JCI and NABH" - Dr Vinay Aggarwal Chairman, Pushpanjali Group of Companies

The conception of PCH is inexorably linked with Dr Aggarwal's journey. After completing his MS from Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi, Dr Aggarwal started his private practice in 1980 in East Delhi. "I used to see 250-300 patients everyday," he says. He started a clinical pathology centre there in 1985 followed by a small 20-bed nursing home- Pushpanjali Medical Centre (Eastern UP) in 1990. Within 10 years, it became a 60-bed intermediate hospital.

He recalls, "The response was good, but there was absolutely no scope of expansion since it was a residential area."

It was the advertisement in the newspaper on the auction of the Ghaziabad Development Authority ( GDA) land which augmented the decisions quicker. The group saw the land and felt it was good for a Hospital. After establishing presence in East Delhi and UP, PCH is the next stepping stone.

Marketing

Since there are hardly any tertiary care facilities in the entire UP, it will prove advantageous for PCH. "The entire belt of Eastern Delhi as well as Western UP has no multi super-speciality Hospital. This area is mostly fed by small nursing homes," informs Dr Vinay Aggarwal, Chairman, Pushpanjali Group of Companies.

The Group is confident of its success and will rely on the traditional word-of-mouth marketing, making its service speak for itself Moreover, the Group organises various camps in different localities nearby that helps in creating the brand value, " "Pushpanjali is quite a well-known name in the locality. This goodwill and success in UP and East Delhi will contribute in the success of PCH to a great extent," believes Atul Gandotra, GM- Marketing and Business Development.

Matters of Manpower

PCH plans to achieve less than 1:10 doctor to patient ratio. At present, there are around 145 consultants associated with the hospital with most of the consultants being visiting consultants. However, departments like intensive care, emergency, blood bank and pathology lab are managed by full timers.

The hospital is based on the co-operative corporate model. “Eighty nine physicians who are partners in the hospital have contributed some limited equity in the hospital ranging from 2,00,000, 00,000 to 50,00,000 and become the owners of the hospital. Sixty five per cent shares are controlled by me," informs Dr Aggarwal. These clinical technical consultants are involved in developing their own departments and taking protocols even infrastructurally.

So what's the advantage? "The doctors will have a feeling of working for themselves. Actually in corporate hospitals, the infrastructure is ready and consultant comes and either tries to change things or compromises. Here, they take even the decisions," opines Aggarwal.

In addition to training the employees and ensuring fairness and respect, there are free yoga and meditation classes for all employees. "Our institution is employee friendly as they are involved in decision and policy making, periodic performance appraisals," says Garima Prasad, Manager, Operations and Quality. The Group also brings out a magazine 'Connect' to keep everyone informed about the latest in the medical world.

Highlights

The Hospital is proposed to be self-sufficient so as to provide all facilities under one roof, that a patient might require. Some of the important ones include Oncology The hospital will have state-of-the-art Galaxy Cancer Institute with complete treatment offers related to medical, surgical and radiation oncology equipped with most modern equipment and manned by top notch cancer experts. Trauma Centre PCH has a specialised 24-hour trauma centre with its separate OT and critical care facility. The emergency response team is equipped with the latest ambulances to reach the trauma victims in the shortest possible time to provide them with on-the-spot emergency medical aid. There is a proposed dedicated neuro-surgical facility for victims of head and neck injuries and for patients requiring neurological surgeries for other disorders. Intensive Care Unit (ICU) The Hospital will have a 78 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Beds in the first phase which will be almost 30 per cent of the bed capacity of this phase. The numbers of ICU beds have been kept high in view of the acute shortage of ICU beds in the region and to provide emphasis to high-end tertiary care. Nephrology and Dialysis The Hospital will have a nephrology unit with advanced dialysis facilities to cater to the needs of in-patients and out patients. A provision for six dialysis beds is being made to start with. It is also planning to start transplant programme in the Hospital. Geriatric Medicine The health needs of the geriatric population are unique. They require more facilities and a longer duration of personal care. To serve the geriatric population, a long-term care facility and specialists in geriatric medicine would be available at the Hospital. A day-care facility will also be available for the elderly who are alone most of the day and need someone to look after them during that time. Sports Medicine Delhi will be hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2010. The Hospital proposes to give special attention to this area in order to provide world class medical attention, which international sportsmen would expect. "We are situated five kms from the sports village. We are nearest from the site of commonwealth games," says Dr Aggarwal. Tele-Medicine A tele-medicine unit will also be set-up to help people in geographically distant areas to avail of their services. Medical Tourism Department To cater to foreign patients the Hospital will have a dedicated department consisting of marketing and customer relations professionals. The department will also liaison with doctors of international repute so that their services can also be availed of by foreign as well as domestic patients. There will also be a heli-pad to cater to critically ill patients. "A Hospital of this stature will rely on medical tourism to a great extent," says Dr Aggarwal.

Matters of IT

PCH would be using the HIS system from Medtrack which is provided by an Australia based Intersystem. This system is currently utilised by Fortis Escorts and Sir Gangaram Hospital, New Delhi. "Before buying this HIS we took the feedback from Escorts Hospital. We got a positive response," informs Prasad. In addition to managing clinical operations like appointment, billing, registration, discharge and medical records system, it also takes care of back-end operations like finance and accounts. Every department is utilising it's own module of HIS.

It makes the entire operation system paperless. "Large amount of data can be stored and even retrieval of information is easy," points Prasad. The investment made in IT so far is approximately Rs 250 lakh (including hardware).

Challenges

At the time of global meltdown, expansion is a challenge. "We gave orders of various equipments and machinery abroad and we had negotiated the price in dollars, but now, because of the dollar variation, the negotiations have been affected," says Aggarwal

Moreover the Group was partnering with various PE firms but the global crisis has hit them badly. "The partnerships are now delayed and raising funds is becoming a problem," he informs. The Group was in touch with five to six PE firms to raise money for further expansion. "Negotiations are still on but the progress has slowed down because of the global meltdown." However they haven't stopped.Right now, the Group is utilising the personal resources and 15-20 per cent of the capital is invested by the consultants.

Future Plans

The hospital will apply for NABH accredition by April this year and JCI accredition by the beginning of next year "The Hospital has been built keeping in mind the norms of JCI and NABH," says Dr Aggarwal. The Group also plans to start a nursing college. There is a hostel for nurses adjacent to the Hospital. "It has a facility for more than 80 nurses," says Gandotra.

The Group plans to expand from a 500-bed hospital to 1,500 beds by opening four to five smaller 100-bed intermediate care hospitals in various small townships of UP and Uttaranchal by 2015 Right now negotiations are on for acquiring a land in the outskirts of UP and Uttranchal.

With another addition of world-class facility like PCH in the north, it is indeed an indication of the fact that North India is soon catching up with quality healthcare that South India is famous for.

sonal.vij@expressindia.com