 |
| Delivery suite at Hinduja Surgical Centre in Khar |
The event of childbirth and the marvel surrounding it, is a landmark experience that unites all. As childbirth has become more of a celebration, expecting parents look for a ‘suitable venue for the event’. The new age ‘birthing centres’ sensing the opportunity are providing such venues. With protocols and facilities reflecting a drastic departure from traditional nursing homes and maternity wards at hospitals along with quick access to preferred gynecologist, these birthing centre are quickly gaining acceptance as the preferred destination to celebrate the birth of life.
These birthing centres are adopting family-centered care model focussing more on the joy of birthing, a once in a lifetime event. It truly is a once in a lifetime event for many as urban couples today are increasingly adopting a nuclear family model, having only one child.
Even if they have more than one birthing experience, couples want the experience to be less of an illness and more of happy memories.
Full package
 “With advanced antenatal, birthing, postpartum, neonatal and gynecological services, we have revolutionised the concept of delivery.”Ravindra Pai Sr. Vice President, Apollo Health & Lifestyle |
The new age birthing centres have a family-centered care model. This is emphasised by specific experiences programmed throughout the facility—from greeting and guiding at the front reception desk to attentive, personalised well-baby services and pediatric acute care. While all birthing centers have Mother Care Packages, some offer specialised services like Education Programme, Health Spa, Antenatal Workshop and Management of Baby Affairs (MBA). “With advanced antenatal, birthing, postpartum, neonatal and gynaecological services, we have revolutionised the concept of delivery, for the new generation of parents who wish to celebrate the experience, along with high standards of birthing care,” claims Ravindra Pai, Senior Vice President, Apollo Health & Lifestyle (parent company of Cradle).
These centres also offer special classes and programmes on childbirth preparation, Lamaze classes, parents and sibling education programmes, antenatal exercises including aerobics, yoga, diet and nutrition and genetic counselling by trained personnel. In addition, provisions for special request like culturally significant dates, valued for the good luck they imbue upon the newborn, result in a high number of scheduled c-sections. The length of stay is dramatically longer, as the new mom enjoys several days of post-natal care. A long list of visitors, childcare products, gift shop, cafe; all these concerns are incorporated into planning for every step of the patient journey and every facet of that experience. “In addition to the best quality of care, we provide a lot of unique infrastructural facilities such as in house Au Bon Pain café, branded mom and baby shops, Parentcraft room, flower shop, Mom’s Lounge to pamper mothers, high end suites and a photo studio,” explains Esha Tiwary, Chief Marketing Officer, Cloudnine.
Design considerations
The traditional maternity unit were divided into labour and delivery and recovery rooms, in addition to postpartum room. In recent years birthing centres have replaced traditional multiple-transfer room design to more contemporary facility design. This design offers mothers, fathers and their families a home-like non-hospital environment in which to give birth without compromising medical care, with care provided by a well-integrated team of specialist and staff. They offer comfort, superior service and friendly hospital design that include patient and family-centered environment and provision of full continuum of Labour, Delivery, Recovery and Postpartum (LDRP).
 “Infrastructure plays a crucial role. Providing round the clock maternity care is also essential to control neonatal mortality.”Dr Deepa Krishnan Consultant, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Nirmala Nursing Home, Karur, Tamil Nadu |
“Infrastructure facilities play a crucial role in providing quality maternal care. Providing round the clock maternity care is also essential to control neonatal mortality,” reiterates Dr Deepa Krishnan, Consultant, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Nirmala Nursing Home, Karur, Tamil Nadu.
The new design offers an advantage to not only families, but also to nursing staff and medical staff alike allowing the center to meet customer and provider satisfaction.
Other than the LDRP rooms these birthing centres also may have single room maternity suits, Neonatal clinic and Neonatal ICU. Neonatal clinic equipped with 24 hour foetal monitoring system, ultrasound machines, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), incubators are mandatory for any maternity centre to provide quality healthcare, adds Dr Krishnan.
Visibility, accessibility, privacy, noise reduction, and lighting are all critical elements in the design of these birthing centres. The inclusion of family and living-in of the caretaker/father are critical design considerations, as is noise transfer from the corridor to patient rooms. Inside rooms, sophisticated colour palettes, delicate patterns, and spatial configurations provide soothing environment for the mother. Elsewhere in the centre spa-like surroundings—soothing natural materials, maximisation of daylight, and the tranquility of waterscape—all taking a cue from the verdant setting enhance the birthing experience.
Family spaces include a children’s play area, a lounge, a nourishment area, lactation rooms, and family sleep rooms with shower facilities.
Nursing homes
In the 80s, maternity centers were in abundance in India. “Conventionally in India, birthing services have been delivered in neighborhood nursing homes, largely owned by senior gynecologists in the city/town and who have been associated with the family for generations,” explains Rajen Padukone, MD & CEO, Manipal Health Enterprises. Be it Nirmala Nursing Home, Chennai; Sevanjali Hospital & Maternity Home in Indore; Shubham Maternity hospital, Nagpur or Suma Maternity Hospital at Vizag all have the same success story to tell. But some have realised the merits of changing with the demanding times and have re-branded themselves, creating a much more ‘polished version’ of their earlier self. Like, Pune’s Oyster & Pearl Hospital was created of Shree Clinic, a renowned maternity hospital of the late Dr HN Phadnis.
New age birthing centres
With the interstate migration of the working class, young expectant couples found it difficult to choose the right place for their first birthing event. Plus, the foreign returned working class knew what to expect. This led to multi-speciality chains first trying to accommodate these demanding customers in luxury birthing suits and later launching stand-alone luxury birthing centres. The prominent among those are the The Cradle by the Apollo hospital group and Le Femme from Fortis Hospitals.
Specialised birthing centres exist in most cities in India today. For instance, a city like Bangalore has a number of stand-alone birthing centres like Cloudnine, Lady Hospital, Cradle, The Nest etc., with most of the speciality hospitals like Manipal, BGS Global, Vydehi, Columbia Asia having a birthing ward at the hospital. However, a smaller city like Jaipur may have many nursing homes but only one luxury birthing centre called Cocoon. On the other side maternity hospitals like LifeSpring fill the void of high quality maternal and child healthcare at affordable rates for low-income population.
Market talk
Birthing care is a lucrative market. With approximately 20 million births in a year, 10,000 per day, 400 per hour and 62 per minute, birthing offers an immense market opportunity. According to a report by McKinsey, the market for maternity care in India was around Rs 6,000 crore in 2009 which was expected to grow to Rs 11,000 crore by 2012. “Driven by rising disposable incomes and increased insurance penetration, boutique mother and child centres, with a unique and compelling value proposition are gaining wider acceptance in metros and urban areas and are likely to grow faster than the 15 per cent growth of general healthcare,” says Padukone. In addition, the lower investment and lesser gestation period than conventional hospitals add to the attraction of stand-alone birthing centres as a good business idea.
 “Birthing centres make business sense only if the choice of location and gynaecologist is made correctly.”Dr. Manika Khanna Gynaecologist & IVF Expert, GAUDIUM, Delhi |
“With a relatively lower investment per bed and potentially higher average revenue per patient (significant price elasticity for differentiated service), the classical ROCE measure is likely to be higher and for these reasons, the business of standalone birthing centres appears to make good business sense,” says Padukone.
However, presenting a different theory, Dr Manika Khanna, Senior IVF expert & Gynecologist, Director, Gaudium, Delhi says, “Birthing centres make business sense only if the choice of location and gynaecologist is made correctly.” Indeed, good gynaecologist is the main attraction in any birthing centre.
The other reason for the success of birthing centres is the increased awareness of safe delivery options and increased medical insurance. With government efforts like the ‘Janani Suraksha Yogna’ and insurance schemes like Employees State Insurance Scheme (ESIS), Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) along with the state level schemes like Rajiv Arogyashri (Andhra Pradesh), Yeshasvini (Karnataka), Vajpayee Arogyashri (Karnataka), Chief Minister Kalaignar’s Scheme (Tamil Nadu-later re-launched as Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme), RSBY Plus (Himachal Pradesh), and the proposed Apka Swasthya Bima Yojana (Delhi) women are more empowered to spend on safe and happy delivery.
While, there is a sizable population that can afford the high-end birthing services, still there is a larger growing market for the lower-income group that demands an inexpensive but quality birthing service. Besides 15 per cent of in-patient spend is on maternity services, providing a huge play for these caregivers. Lifespring Hospitals Hyderabad, caters to this population.
In future
Birthing centres are gaining popularity but they will not replace nursing homes, maternity hospitals or regular maternity wards of specialty hospitals. They do have their set of advantages but may also have some disadvantages. While they provide homelike ambiance along with compassionate staff members, they lack expertise to handle complicated pregnancies. “The drawbacks are that medical and surgical high risk patients, who require a multi disciplinary approach cannot be treated easily at (such) centres,” says Dr khanna.
Agreeing Padukone says, “While these birthing centres can handle most routine /normal delivery cases, where there is a concern is in their ability to handle complex/high risk cases. For example, children born pre-term, congenital defects etc. In the initial stages of a centre, till volumes stabilise, such centres may find it difficult to engage a full-fledged neonatologist. The absence of a full time resource can at times prove to be a constraint.”
“Maybe the time is ripe for strong healthcare brands to enter into this space—by establishing such centres within tertiary care hospitals with a distinct identity, differentiated ambiance and service experience–leading to healthy combination of pampered care coupled (with) patient delight and the ability to manage all potential risks,” he adds.
In future, this segment may see new players entering the market and changing its dynamics, but for now we can wait and watch as these birthing centres grow in India.
- Advertisement -
