Interview

'Our Goal is to Promote Ourselves as a Reliable and Relevant Hospital'

Today, the people of Orissa are convinced about the quality of medical services provided by Kalinga Hospital, the first organised private sector hospital in the state. The man who has played an important role in steering it— Maj Gen Dr Bikash K Mohanti, AVSM (Retd), Medical Superintendent, Kalinga Hospital Limited, speaks about the recent initiatives of the hospital and his plans for the future. Excerpts:

Maj Gen Dr BK Mohanti

Kalinga Hospital, Bhubaneswar was one of the earliest entrants in the private healthcare arena. Please share with us your experiences in the region.

We are the first organised private sector corporate hospital and have unique niche in healthcare sector in Orissa. We brought in and stabilised the concept of tertiary care to the people of Orissa. The Hospital is an endeavor by NRI Oriya doctors with the sole aim of providing state-of-the-art medicare to the people of the state.

What are your views on the private healthcare industry in the state? How has the private healthcare sector evolved over the last two decades and what are its future prospects?

The future of private healthcare providers is bright because the prevailing business climate, general economic outlook, as well as the business enabling infrastructure. All this will contribute immensely to the success of private healthcare. However the biggest impediment will be availability of trained and skilled manpower.

What kind of advanced medicare services are available at the hospital? Can you please elaborate on the facilities under different specialities and super-specialities? Which are the main thrust areas of the hospital?

Our Renal Science services have matured and peaked with more than 100 renal transplants in last three years. The imaging services are the best available in Orissa with 1.5 Tesla MRI, 16 Slice CT. The Cardiac sciences and neuro sciences services are the most compact and cost-beneficial to patients. We are now stepping up to provide complete range of oncology services. The transfusion medicine services are the most advanced and technically sound. The critical care services are considered the best available in Orissa.

Inspite of the most advanced medicare available, It is seen that patients from this part of the country, prefer to travel down to South or the West of India for advanced treatment and complicated surgeries. In this context, what is your message to these patients?

We believe that lack of faith, logic of individualised economic rationalisation and conflict expectations could be the reasons of 'migration' of patients to outside the state. However, now it seems that there is a perceptible shift in patient's choice.

How do you plan to associate with the State Government through the PPP route to revamp the healthcare sector in the state?

Presently we have a very limited association with state Government because of our own commitments. However we have few plans to work with NRHM in enhancing the provision of medical care to the interiors of state through outreach centers facilities, mobile health services and tele-consultation. We have plans to become the referral center for critical care in Orissa.

Several multi-speciality and super speciality hospital projects are lined up in the city. What are your observations in this regard? What kind of competition will it throw up to players like you? How do you think the private healthcare scenario will evolve in the state in the next one decade?

Kalinga Hospital has sustained itself for last decade or so in spite of rough weather and competition from other players. The changed scenario is unlikely to affect us; firstly, the gap in need and availability is huge and, secondly, we don't believe in competition, but in completion of our task of providing quality healthcare. Due to other commercial and economic balancing, many mid-size hospitals will come up to reap certain amount of financial benefit. There is unlikely a massive growth of tertiary care centers.

Please share with us some of your future plans.

Our goal is to promote ourselves as a reliable and relevant hospital. At present we are well balanced with 275 beds. Our emerging concerns are to consolidate own position and bring in some more value added services at interior and peripheral parts of Orissa. We are committed to provide cost plus solutions and value based operations.