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Innovation
in Healthcare Delivery in India
How does innovation affect our healthcare industry? Can innovation
enhance healthcare quality and address the challenges of healthcare
delivery in India? Is innovation limited to the private sector?
While Express Healthcare seeks answers to these questions,
our effort is to bring to fore the innovations that have stood
the test of time
Sharpening
India’s Vision
The late Padmashree Dr G Venkataswamy (Dr V) was a known warrior
who waged a war against needless blindness in India. He not
only conceived a vision to eradicate needless blindness from
India, but also a unique viable eye care delivery system,
that today has won admiration from all over the world. Taking
the concept of social marketing to new heights, Dr V instituted
the Aravind Eye Hospital (Aravind) in 1976 at Madurai, after
his retirement from the Government Medical College, as the
HoD of Ophthalmology. Over the years, Aravind became synonymous
with Dr V as well as cataract surgery, and made eye care accessible
to all by rising above the barriers of poverty and distance.
This self-sustaining eye care delivery system grew as a chain
of hospitals, new hospitals came up at Tirunelveli, Coimbatore,
Theni and Pondicherry and diversified in the fields of manufacturing,
training and education, eye banking and social service, all
converging under the banner of a holistic Aravind Eye Care
System.
In terms of the volume of work done—number of patients
examined and number of surgeries performed— Aravind is
the world’s largest eye care provider. It boasts over
32 million outpatients served and four million surgeries performed,
right from the inception till date. The famed institute is
the ultimate choice for many international patients as well
as researchers and faculty members. It houses many well equipped
speciality clinics run by very efficient professionals, all
sharing the same vision of Dr. V. There is tremendous amount
of work done, both in terms of complicated surgeries and ground-breaking
research. It is known for its unique community outreach programme
and the self-sustainable strategy, balancing cost and efficiency
as well as drawing surplus profits to feed its ambitious growth
plans. Dr S R Krishnadas, Director, Human Resources, Aravind
Eye Hospital, Madurai shares the group’s growth story
with M Neelam Kachhap
Chugging
Away for Good Health
It all began with a quest to reduce physical disabilities
across the globe. Owing to the increasing number of people
with physical disabilities, the year 1981 was declared as
the International Year of Disabled Persons. UN experts and
health administrators from around the world met at Leeds Castle,
England to deliberate on preventing these disabilities. The
participants at the meeting concurred that adopting a cost-effective
approach to combat disabilities was the need of the hour and
the recommendations at the meeting were later adopted by the
UN General Assembly in 1982. The assembly pointed out the
need for private and government partnerships in order to develop
health projects of national importance using existing delivery
systems and infrastructure. With the view to implement these
policies, the Impact Foundation was formed in pursuant to
the New Delhi Declaration launched by the Government of India.
The major thrust of Impact was to be at the level of primary
healthcare (PHC) and this included prevention of diseases.
The focus of Impact was to reach out to the 70 million disabled
people in India. Today, the organisation has 19 foundations
across the world. As Impact's journey continued, the member
of the foundation came across many remote villages in India
that had no healthcare access at all. While on a project,
Zelma Lazarus, CEO, Impact India along with few other members
came up with an idea to use the rail route to provide basic
healthcare facilities to the remote villagers of India. This
thought was then presented to the government and the Ministry
of Railways donated five coaches customised for a fully equipped
hospital. That is how the world's first hospital on a train,
The Lifeline Express was initiated.
The Magic Train as it has now come to be known has completed
around 125 projects and treated 7,00,000 patients in thousands
of villages. The train visits different parts of the country,
usually remote rural areas with insufficient medical facilities,
or areas hit by natural disasters and stays in each place
for at least one month while medical care (routine as well
as major surgery) is provided to the local people. It is sponsored
by local business houses and foundations. So far, 150,000
doctors and medical personnel from India and abroad have voluntarily
participated in this free camp. Zelma Lazarus, CEO, Impact
India shares the illustrious journey of the Lifeline Express
with Raelene Kambli
Health
for All
Walking a tight rope balancing profits and philanthropy, LifeSpring
Hospital, Hyderabad, is one unique venture that is trying
to fill the void left by the competitive private sector and
the public healthcare system. In fact, LifeSpring’s mission
grew out of this deep deficiency to address the needs of lower
income households of the society, where the expenses incurred
on health have a life changing effect. It provides low cost,
high quality maternity hospitals, for low income women. LifeSpring
Hospitals launched as a separate private company with equity
paticipation from HLL Lifecare. and Acumen Fund in February
2008. Today LifeSpring Hospitals network has grown to become
the largest private maternity hospital network in India and
aspires to become one of the largest in the world. Low-income
women want and deserve safe, affordable maternal care which
is provided by LifeSpring Hospitals, and the company has managed
to put dignity at the centre of this endeavour.
LifeSpring’s business model is one-of-its-kind; it aims
to serve as a model for providing high-quality maternal and
child health services to the poor in India as well as worldwide.
It has wisely chosen an unserviced customer group and high
prevalence need – pregnancy – to base its business
on. The hospital focusses on a particular niche of maternal
health and achieves high quality within that niche through
its process-oriented methods. This is its most important differentiator,
and has contributed immensely to its success. Anant Kumar,
CEO, Lifespring Hospital speaks to Neelam Mickey Kachhap about
the group
Technology
to the Rescue
Projecting the future of the Indian healthcare sector, experts
state that telemedicine is one of the key tools that will
transform rural healthcare. Indeed, telemedicine will increase
accessibility to care in a country that is home to the world's
largest number people suffering from varied ailments. Adopting
telemedicine as its tool to reach out to a million patients
across rural India, Jeeva Ayurveda through it's pioneering
efforts has been making healthcare accessible to the rural
population for the last 12 years. The organisation was initiated
by Dr Pratap Chauhan, a world-renowned Ayurvedacharya who
has travelled to over 50 countries, having dedicated himself
to popularising Ayurveda across the globe. During his interactions
with people from world over, he realised that Ayurveda was
actually the missing link that could help people stay happy,
healthy and balanced throughout their lives. It was then that
he made it the mission of his life to ‘take Ayurveda
to every home’. Over the years, Jeeva Ayurveda has become
a household name in authentic Ayurveda treatment for chronic
diseases. Its vision of making people happy and healthy through
lifestyle and regenerative treatment delivered at their doorstep
is a direct response to the ailments and disorders affecting
the Indian community today, most of which do not have any
cures or sustainable treatment in modern medicine.
As an endeavour to reach out to maximum people across the
country, the Jeeva TeleMedicine Center, a first-of-its-kind
concept in the world, was established in 1998 as an integrated
centre of telephonic health consultation. Currently, Jeeva
has 125 Ayurvedic doctors and consultants providing consultations
to more than 50,000 patients in the last six months alone,
across 1200 cities and towns in India. It is said that many
of these towns do not have good health infrastructure and
therefore the availability of world class Ayurveda treatment
through telemedicine has worked wonders for them. Raelene
Kambli catches up with Dr Pratap Chauhan, Director, JEEVA
Ayurveda to know more about the company
Nation
Wide Revolution of Healthcare
Social entrepreneurship, with an economically sustainable
model, NationWide Primary Healthcare Services (NationWide)
is a pioneering chain of general practitioner (GP) and paediatric
clinics headquartered in Bangalore. Started in March 2010
as a new-age primary healthcare service provider, the company
was co-founded by two eminent doctors, Dr Santanu Chattopadhyay
and Dr Shantanu Rahman. The primary care chain with clinics
in Indiranagar, Whitefield and now in Koramangala, was recently
declared the “Most Innovative Primary Healthcare Services
In Bangalore” by Big Brands Research Group at the Brands
Academy Karnataka Service Excellence 2011 Awards.
With their third round of funding around the corner, the organisation
intends to raise up to $ five – ten million from Venture
Capital’s for further expansion. The organisation’s
growth strategy over the next 18 months is to open 15 more
centres in Bangalore and simultaneously launch services in
Gurgaon and Kolkata with two or three clinics in these cities.
Dr Santanu Chattopadhyay, CEO and MD, Nationwide talks about
the company in conversation with M Neelam Kachhap
2nd
Innings for the Family Doctor
The concept of the friendly neighborhood family physician
that once was termed to be an endangered species is now resurrecting
and gaining momentum. There are efforts taken by various healthcare
groups to revive this concept and include vocational training
in family medicine as part of medical education. On the similar
lines the father-son duo, Dr Gautam Sen, Chairman & Co-founder,
Healthspring Community Medical Centres and former member of
the Board of Governors of the Medical Council of India along
with Kaushik Sen - CEO & Co-founder, Healthspring Community
Medical Centres last year initiated a unique business model
that brings back the concept of family physician in a modern
setting. This business model is developed with an objective
to deliver premium healthcare in India. Healthspring aspires
to fill this vacuum in the primary and secondary healthcare
delivery system in the country through a chain of community
medical centres. The company has tied up with the renowned
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence International,
(NICE) UK, to focus on providing preventive medicine that
meets international standards and follows evidence-based best-in-class
pathways, thereby keeping its patients healthier. In order
to provide specialised care, Healthspring has also tied up
with the best specialists and hospitals to provide higher-level
care, thereby offering a seamless service to its patients.
Raelene Kambli chats with the father-son duo to understand
their business model
New
Aditya Birla Health Store at Pimple Saudagar
Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital located at Chinchwad, Pune
has launched a new Aditya Birla Health Store at Pimple Saudagar
Fortis
Launches Chain of Stand-alone Dialysis Centres
Fortis Healthcare (India) has announced the launch of Renkare,
a chain of stand-alone dialysis centres, at Greater Kailash
1 in New Delhi
Narayana
Hrudayalaya Group and SRCC in Partnership for Children's Hospital
It will be a 1,000 bed super speciality hospital dedicated
to pediatrics and would be equipped to serve 3,000 children
a day
US
Administration Keen to Partner with India
The US administration is keen to partner with India to offer
quality healthcare in urban and rural areas of the country
Wolters
Kluwer Health Acquires STM Journal Publisher in India
Acquisition gives Wolters Kluwer Health strong foothold in
open access publishing business
AIMS
Performs Surgery for Thornwaldt’s Cyst to Save 4-day
Old's Life
The surgery was done first time in India, in record 28 minutes
and was virtually bloodless
Israeli
Cardiac Surgeons Perform Critical Heart Surgeries at KEM
The surgeons are in India as a part of the Israel month
Hinduja
Hospital Celebrates its Diamond Jubilee
A photo exhibition on the sidelines provided
a glimpse of the 60-year journey of the institution
Hiranandani
Hospital Doctor Performs 12 knee Replacement Surgeries in
Seychelles
Dr Vijay Shetty, Consultant Orthopaedist, Hiranandani Hospital
recently performed 12 knee replacement surgeries in Seychelles
free of charge
Godrej
Interio Brings LINET's Healthcare Furniture to India
It will be available in all metros from April 2012
AMDL
Health Launches eTraq app for BlackBerry PlayBook in India
It is a portable, light-weight unit that provides five-parameter
monitoring
BD
in MOU with PHDCCI for Certified Phlebotomy Courses
Healthcare workers to get certified training on safe blood
collection practices
Indraprastha
Apollo Hospitals Celebrates Life with Cancer Survivors
'Celebrating Life’ Event organised to bring together
cancer patients who survived because of their never-say-die
spirit
Around
1000 Experts and Delegates Expected to Participate in EMS
2012
In the view of the rising trauma cases in India, All India
Institute of Medical Sciences, Department of Hospital Administration,
is organising an “International Congress on Emergency
Medical Service Systems – EMS 2012” between February,
9-11, 2012 at AIIMS, New Delhi
“The
Soul of any Congress is its Scientific Programme”
The 18th Annual Congress of the Indian Society of Critical
Care Medicine & International Critical Care Congress 2012
promises to be a rich educational forum with multiple programmes,
special events and activities that will enhance the practice
of critical care
Collaborating
to Curb CVDs in India
Charu Sehgal, Senior Director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, raises
concerns about the rising ates of cardiovascular diseases
(CVDs) in India and calls for collaboration mongst the various
takeholder groups of the cardiac value chain
Forecasts
for Indian Healthcare
As we gear up for 2012, Murali Rao, Associate Vice President,
Healthcare, Technopak gives an overview of the Indian healthcare
sector and charts it future growth path
Prescription
for the Health of a Billion and Plus
As we gear up for the new year and move towards yet another
five year plan, Dr Araveeti Ramayogaiah talks about the revamps
that are needed in the Indian healthcare scenario
Healthcare
in India: An Overview
Professor B M Hegde, a former professor of cardiology, Middlesex
Hospital Medical School, University of London and former Vice-Chancellor,
Manipal University, gives a brief rundown on the healthcare
scenario in India
Leadership
in Health Sector Reform and Management: Role of a Secretary
or Director
Dr K R Antony elucidates on leadership in health sector reform
and management while throwing light on the role of a secretary
or director in the effective and efficient implementation
of these reforms
MEDICALL
2012 to be Held in Ahmedabad
MEDICALL 2012 will provide a big fillip to healthcare sector
in general and the medical equipment industry in particular
HospiArch
2012 to be Held in January
HospiArch conference addresses all the needs of planning and
designing as well as commissioning of a hospital
HII
2011 – A Growth Platfrom
The second edition of HII emerged as a great networking platfrom
for the players of the industry and facilitated the exchange
of information, innovations, new trends and ideas to improve
healthcare practices
Exhibitor's
Gallery
Confirmed
Speakers’ Profile - EMS 2012
Events
Update
- HospiArch 2012
- 65th IRIA 2012
- Medicall 2012
- EMS 2012
- Criticare 2012
Product
Watch
- Carestream Health India Launches Innovative DRYVIEW Chroma
Imager That Prints Medical Images to Film and Paper
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