www.MedgateToday.com
Price : 200/-
An Advance Media Publication
Annual Issue
2017
Advance Media Group A Health Journalism
The Gateway to Health & Medical World
Dr. Mahesh Gupta Kent RO Systems Ltd.
Zoya Brar
CORE Diagnostics
Dr. Ashish Singh
Anup Institute of Orthopaedics, Patna
Dr. Naresh Trehan
Medanta – The Medicity, Gurgaon
Innovators & Pioneers of Healthcare Sectors
Prof. Dr. Sanjeev Bagai Manipal Dwarka hospital
Dr. Shankar Narang Paras Hospitals
Randeep Guleria AIIMS
Prashant Tondon 1MG
Dr. D.S. Rana
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital
Swadeep Srivastava India Virtual Hospital
Dr. Alok Roy
MEDICA SUPERSPECIALTY HOSPITAL
2017
Vivek Tiwari Medika Bazaar
Veena Kohli
Vanguard Diagnostics
Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala CEO, Wadia Hospital
Vivek Srivastava HealthCare atHOME
Update
EDITOR SPEAK
Innovators & Pioneers of Healthcare Sectors 2017 This is the Annual Publication of Medgate Today where we tried to gather the innovators and pioneers of healthcare of India in this issue . There are many legends in healthcare in India and we have featured few of them , and in no particular order. In order to produce a fact-packed and data loaded edition, we conducted a long-term concentrated research and examined hospitals closely from all across the nation, which was further enhanced by the inputs through direct interactions with the eminent working doctors, highlyskilled professional staff, clinicians and consultants along with noted luminaries from all the major and mid-sized hospitals and top health organizations. The extent of research was not only restricted to observation, assembling of data and consistent gathering of information but also corroborated by close evaluation and assessment of hard-core key documents. We are extremely grateful to all the respected doctors for their cooperation, support and guidance that have been immensely instrumental in preparation of this esteemed special edition. Every year, Medgate Today enlightens its readers with important insights about the healthcare industry and will continue to do so despite significant challenges, obstacles and hurdles and will also continue to win the trust and faith of our readers over the coming years. Each year we will ensure to paint and portray a broad landscape of the healthcare sector and will struggle to develop an edition, which we believe will be the closest to our heart and soul and also to the hearts of millions of our subscribers across Asia and beyond. To summarize, I wish you happy reading and welcome your comments and views in order to keep up the spirit of learning and delivering content that lives up to the expectations of our beloved readers.
Have an insightful reading. Your suggestions are most welcome! E-mail: editor@medgatetoday.com Website: w w w . m e d g a t e t o d a y . c o m
2
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
Magazine
Special Edition Dec 2017 Editor Feature Editor Editorial Advisor
2017
Dr. ma Kamal Harsh Suman, Razi Ahsan GP Capt. (Dr.) Sanjeev Sood Dr. Sharad Lakhotia
Editorial Asst.
Rashika Pandey
National Head
Afzal Kamal
Dy. Manager
Sales & Marketing
Advertisement Manager Subscription & Circulation Sales and Marketing
Graphic Designer
Deepti Tripathi, Rushda Parveen
Jai Prakash Upadhyay Ruksana Amjad Kamal, SY Ahmed Khan, Ranjit Shirsath Zyaul Haque Ansari All right reserved by all everts are made to ensure that the information published is correct 'Medgate today’ holds no responsibility any unlikely errors that might occur. Circulation Office:
Published by
Advance Media Group Bldg.No-256/6 Office No-02, Near Pocket 10B, Jasola, (Behind Apollo Hospital) New Delhi - 110025 Tel: +91 - 11 - 2694 6348 +91 - 11 - 64626351 Email: info@medgatetoday.com medgatetoday@gmail.com Visit us: www.medgatetoday.com
Mumbai Office
7 - Ground Floor, Aradhna CHS Ltd. Bal Samant Marg, Bandra (W), Mumbai-400 050
Chennai Office
11, Krishnan, Koil Street 3rd Floor Rotary Lane Chennai - 600001
Printed by
Artxel, 76, DSIDC Shed, Okhla Industrial Area Phase - II, New Delhi - 110020
Innovators & Pioneers
CONTENTS
Dec 2017
04
Dr. Naresh Trehan
14
Dr. Ramakanta Panda
26
Vivek Srivastava
06
Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala
16
Randeep Guleria
28
Dr. Mahesh Gupta
08
Dr. Alok Roy
10
Dr. Ashish Singh
18
20
Dr. Shankar Narang
31
Dr. Rohit Bhatia
Vivek Tiwari
32
Prof. Dr. Sanjeev Bagai
EXPERT VIEWS 38
Swadeep Srivastava
39
Dr. Mradul Kaushik,
42
M.S. Guru Prasad
12
Prashant Tondon
24
Veena Kohli
36
Dr. D.S. Rana
COVER STORY
The Man with Golden Scissors Latest Advancement & Management of Heart Diseases
Dr. Naresh Trehan, an Indian national, is a renowned Cardiovascular and Cardiothoracic surgeon, a graduate from King George Medical College and subsequently trained and practiced at New York University Medical Center Manhattan USA, where he obtained a Diplomat from the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Dr Naresh Trehan is the Chairman & Managing Director, Medanta TM-The MediCity, a 1500 bedded multi super speciality institute, which offers cutting edge technology and state of art treatment facilities at an affordable cost. The Institute is governed under the guiding principles of providing medical services to patients with care, compassion and commitment. Dr. Naresh Trehan founded the Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre where he was the Executive Director. Escorts was conceptualised, created and managed by Dr. Trehan from November 1987 to May 2007. Dr. Naresh Trehan has received many prestigious awards, including the Padma Shree and the Padma Bhushan Award, presented by the Government of India. Dr Naresh Trehan was the President of the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery (ISMICS), Minneapolis, USA 2004-05 and has also received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from three prestigious universities.
Dr. Naresh Trehan
Chairman And Managing Director Medanta – The Medicity, Gurgaon
4
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
After training in general surgery and subsequently cardiac surgery at premier institutions in U.S. (NYU Medical Centre), held important academic and clinical positions at the New York University Medical Center, Bellevue Hospital of the city of New York and Veterans Administration Hospital (Manhattan), U.S.A. His pioneering work in the field of coronary artery bypass surgery was at the New York University Medical Centre, New York, USA. In 1988, despite a successful career in United States he returned to India and started Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre - a pioneering state-of-the-art heart institute in India. This institute is on par or better than the best in the world and has set new standards of cardiac care this part of the world. Within a short period this Centre has become an important land mark the world over in cardiac surgery and cardiology having successfully performed over 48,000 open heart surgeries which includes surgeries of coronary artery, valves, carotid arteries, aortic aneurysm, cardiomyoplasty, cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial total arterial revascularization, trans myocardial laser revascularisation, least invasive coronary artery surgery on a beating heart, reduction ventriculoplasty (Batista Operation), heart port access surgery and robotically assisted cardiac surgery with excellent results. Some of these operations have been performed by him for the first time in India. Besides clinical work he has taken keen interest in training, education and research programmes. He is giving post doctoral training of international standard to 30 surgeons at a point of time at the Institute, The training is of 3 years duration. Over 20 surgeons have already been trained so far. Has established a comprehensive research programme to constantly monitor the data accumulated on daily basis for each patient. He has also presented a number of scientific papers and chaired scientific sessions in national and international conferences in USA, UK, Japan, China, Israel and Far East countries.
COVER STORY
Over the past couple of years significant advances have been made in the diagnosis and management of various heart diseases. While many of the previously available diagnostic techniques have been refined, new technologies have emerged which result in better characterisation of abnormalities in the structure and function of heart. Simultaneously exciting new treatment modalities have emerged and have been incorporated in routine clinical practice. Together these advances translate into faster and more accurate diagnoses and better and less invasive treatment options.
Diagnostic Modalities: Echocardiography has been with us several years now and has proved to be an invaluable tool. Here too newer softwares have been added which give far more accurate information about the structural and functional abnormalities of the heart and also help us in assessing the prognosis of patients. It is now possible to more accurately define various diseases of heart muscles and also various valvular and intracardiac structural defects. This information is of great help to surgeons as they can plan the operative procedure beforehand. Coronary CT angio machines have become much more accurate and give much less radiation to patients now. Early detection of coronary artery disease is now possible in several vulnerable individuals who may have no symptoms and there treadmill test may be normal. Patients with long standing diabetes and patients who have a family history of premature heart disease are some of the examples of those who can vastly benefit from this technology. Cardiac MRI has established its value in various heart muscle diseases where previously the diagnosis was not easy. New techniques have also become available to help interventional cardiologist place coronary stents more accurately, reducing the chances of reblockage. Two of these techniques are intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT). With these techniques it is possible to look inside the coronary arteries to see whether the desired results have been received during angioplasty and if there are any potential complications. Their use helps in better long term results.
Treatment modalities: Exciting new developments have occurred from the last 2-3 years in management of advanced heart diseases which in medical terms are called heart failure. These include ARNI and IVABRADINE which have significantly improved outcomes in this group of very sick patients. Intravenous iron preparations are being increasingly used in patients of heart failure to improve their functional capacities. Several other new drugs are under development and should be available in the near future.
TAVI This minimally invasive surgical procedure repairs the valve
without removing the old, damaged valve. Instead, it wedges a replacement valve into the aortic valve’s place. The surgery may be called a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) or transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). This procedure is fairly new and is FDA approved for people with symptomatic shrinking of aortic valve for those patients who are considered an intermediate or high risk patient for standard valve replacement surgery. The differences in the two procedures are significant.Usually valve replacement requires an open heart procedure with a “sternotomy�, in which the chest is surgically opened. The TAVR or TAVI procedures can be done through very small openings that leave all the chest bones in place. It also cuts down the hospital stay and results in faster recovery. The TAVR procedure is performed using one of two different approaches, either through a catheter or a small surgical procedure, allowing the cardiologist or surgeon to choose which one provides the best and safest way to access the valve.
PTCA with Exmicer laser Excimer laser angioplasty is one of the newest procedures being used in interventional cardiology. Excimer laser angioplasty (ELA) has been developed as a modality that offers an alternative to percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. The laser energy is delivered via fiber optics to the target lesion and the plaque material is rendered into a gaseous state (vaporized) by breaking the molecular bonds.
Pacemakers and Rhythm disorders: Newer generation of pacemakers have become much smaller and can be implanted inside the heart through a catheter, avoiding surgery. Further refinements in this technique are on the way. There are certain conditions where the heart beat becomes abnormally fast and can result in episodes of unconsciousness and even death. Newer techniques called Radiofrequency ablation have also benefited from new technologies and it is now possible to accurately define the origin of these abnormal beats and treat them by delivering radio frequency energy through a catheter, resulting in a cure .
Cardiac Surgery: In the field to cardiac surgery two major developments have been the availability of an artificial heart called LVAD and heart transplantation. There are several patients where despite the best medical management the disease is too far advanced resulting in repeated hospitalisation and a poor quality of life. These two techniques can help patients live longer with a much better quality of life. While there are several challenges still present in these two techniques, over the year they have been steadily refined and now the results are quite acceptable. There are several centres in our country now offering both these techniques with results which are at par with the best centres abroad. Their cost is gradually coming down and hopefully they should become affordable for more and more patients. w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
5
COVER STORY
Changing the Healthcare Industry in a Healthy Way Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala CEO, Wadia Hospital Shed some light upon your personal journey to the Healthcare Industry since inception.
Striving for impact and focused on results, I always believe in a realistic approach for the everyday challenges I face and that has helped me achieve the most difficult tasks with precision. 6
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
Every time I think about my journey in Healthcarefor the past 32 years I get a stronger perspective into my existence and feel extremly proud about the same. My journey started with dental practice. For me practice was not just seeing patients but also being a teacher and mentor for so many students. Time and again I had come across several instances where I would take operational roles along with the routine practice, one such opportunity was when I was associated with Impact India Foundation for their “Hospital-on-Wheels� project to handle functionalities as a Coordinator Surgeon to set up the 1st Dental Unit on the Train, I guess this was the turning point in my life where I realized that I could reach a larger number of people and create much more impact in the society as a healthcare professional and thus got more inclined towards the management aspect of Healthcare. Also I had always felt that though our country has so many talented doctors there was definitely a need for better healthcare management in our country, the gap was because not all non-medicos could understand healthcare that well, a doctor could definitely understand the management aspect better and hence I pursued a MHA and a Doctorate in Professional Entrepreneurship. Though I dearly miss teaching my students and treating my patients I always make it a point in my management practice to visit the hospital patients every day and interact with them as to how we could serve them better.
Please comment your views on the growth of Wadia’s Hospital. I got the opportunity to work with Wadia Hospitals in November 2012 when the Hospital was undergoing a major crisis situation, I took this as a challenge and slowly started working towards streamlining the transformation of both the Hospitals. Other then the operational challenges the infrastructure of the Hospital being a heritage structure has been a challenge as well in terms of stability and expansion of services. Infact when I had taken up the challenge both the Hospitals were operational under one building, as other
COVER STORY
building of Children Hospital had undergone structural damages in 2007-2008 and was not safe for patients. My initial mission was to get the Childrens Hospital functional and increase the scope of services with improved quality of patient care and ensure safety for all patients.Streamlining the hospital operations in weakened infrastructure with a financial crisis was the biggest hurdle. It took a great deal of strategic planning and hard work with patience in order to reach the point we are at today and we are very positive we will go much ahead in this journey with these Hospitals,not only being amongst the best Hospitals in India but also in the World. Our Chairman Mr. Nusli Wadia and Board member Mr. Ness Wadia have been a great influence in my life. The strong insight of our Chairman’s vision towards the goal and driving us by mentoring new systems and techniques to be adopted in spite of challenges and standing with the team as one during crisis situation has inspired us a lot. With support and strategic guidance we have been able to achieve major transformations for the organizations. Proudly we have achieved the same and today we have a fully functional Paediatric hospital with 530 Beds.
What developments will shape Wadia’s growth in near future. Our Children’s hospital is the first dedicated Paediatric hospital established in the country and the largest as well. Today the hospital provide more then 30 super specialty services under one roof, we have 7 OTS where complex surgeries like cardiac surgery, neurosurgery etc. are performed. We proudly host the largest NICU in the world with 150 beds. We also have a nodal center for clubfoot disease in Maharashtra and soon will start with our own Cath Lab, MRI centre and a Bone Marrow Transplant unit. We are also looking forward to establish an advanced Cancer treatment unit and Organ Transplant centre. Our Maternity Hospital specializes in offering affordable Obstetrics and Gynaecology services to women across all the sections of the society; the hospital also specializes in providing IVF care at a much-subsidized cost and also has a human milk bank to help the children who are not fortunate enough to get it. The maternity hospital would undergo a major transformation soon starting with structural stability being a nine decade old structure. What sets us apart is the social impact that we create.
What are the challenges to grow or establish a brand in Indian Healthcare market. The industry is growing as always, but with increased innovation and improvements in technology in the last few years I see the industry to be growing faster and becoming more challenging in the coming years. Well as we all know there are no shortcuts to success, I have always believed in building systems and implementing them to achieve the
desired results. Understanding problems and being creative in solving them is something that could help establish a successful brand in Healthcare. To recognise talent within the system and utilisation of the same optimally is also one of the key working areas.
What are the challenges associated with heritage hospitals? Yes I do agree that Heritage buildings come with their own sets of challenges but when it comes to the Wadia Hospitals our iconic buildings come with more then 9 decades of expertise and strong sense of commitment to the society. Our commitment lies not only in our expert staff, but also the strong community around us the same supports us and comes together as one for any set of challenges. Our biggest strength here is the 9-decade-old vision of our founders to empower the women and children for better health then and even today.
How do you provide quality healthcare at an affordable price? Well quality in healthcare should never be compared with the price of the service; every patient deserves quality and safe care at any healthcare institute. We have trained our staff with the same vision and educated them on the various standards of quality and patient safety in order to achieve the highest level of patient satisfaction for them at an affordable price.
You have been associated with two heritage hospitals for more than five years. How has been the journey so far? I couldn’t thank our Chairman and Board members enough for giving me the opportunity and showing complete trust in me. This journey has been the most challenging yet most rewarding experience of my life. During this tenure of 5 years I cant think of a single day that has gone by where my mind has taken some rest for my family, or myself. Day and night I am always focused on how we could better our services for the patients and offer all the services under one roof. Primarily my responsibilities are focused towards strtegizing and achieving the objectives and strive harder towards the vision and mission of the organizations, I also dedicate a lot of time for positive change management and team building across all the departments. I woul describe myself as an individual who is striving for impact and focused on results, I always believe in a realistic approach for the everyday challenges I face and that has helped me achieve the most difficult tasks with precision.The hospitals have become a part of my soul and this is the level of my commitment that gives me the sense of fulfillment and purpose in my life though there is yet a lot to be achieved for both the hospitals w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
7
COVER STORY
MEDICA: Bringing Reliable & Advanced Healthcare in Eastern India Health is getting under the scanner both politically and in public eyes, hence combination of technology and hospitality will save the day for future healthcare providers
Dr. Alok Roy
CHAIRMAN, MEDICA SUPERSPECIALTY HOSPITAL Medica Hospitals, one of the major and fast growing chain of hospitals in Eastern India today, has built and managed numerous healthcare facilities across the Eastern region over the past few years. The healthcare chain launched its operations with Medica North Bengal Clinic (MNBC) in Siliguri in 2008, and soon followed up with its flagship Hospital – Medica Superspecialty Hospital (MSH) – in Kolkata in 2010. The group hasnow footprints in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar and Assam. Dr. Alok Roy, Founder and Chairman, remains the dynamic force behind Medica Group of Hospitals. Following is the excerpt of a recent interview of Dr. Alok Roy. 8
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
COVER STORY
Please limelight your career as a Chairman of Medica Superspecialty Hospital. We would like to know the journey since inception? I always wanted to be a doctor and getting into a medical college was a-dream-come-true for me. After my postgraduation, I had job offers from London and Nigeria, but I always wanted to serve the people of my own country. I began my career as a nuclear cardiologist in 1987 in Kolkata’s BM Birla Heart Centre. I have helped to set up a number of hospitals – Fortis (Noida), BM Birla Heart Institute (Kolkata), Manipal Heart Foundation (Bangalore), Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (Kolkata) and Narayana Hrudayalaya (Bangalore). The Integrated Telemedicine and Tele-health Project (ITTP) and the Yeshasvini Health Insurance Scheme (which has been made as part of study at Harvard University) are some of the ventures that I helped inconceiving and giving shape to. My most satisfying achievement, however, has been the venture that is closest to my heart – MEDICA. I had a dream of building my own hospital and was fortunate enough to have the support of a few like-minded colleagues, who shared my vision and passion. We went through an initial stage of intense struggle when we were trying to get investors who would believe in our vision. But my confidence never wavered and slowly we managed to garner support and funds and my dream started taking shape. The first project that Medica Synergie bagged was to prepare a health plan for the state of Meghalaya. Soon, our Projects & Consultancy division, was also launched and thereafter the retail pharmacy chain-Medica Pharmacy. Kolkataheadquartered Medica Superspecialty Hospital, serves as the hub to other hospitals, we have in Siliguri, Rangapani& Burdwan (West Bengal) Ranchi, Jamshedpur Dhanbad& Ramgarh (Jharkhand), Kalinganagar (Odisha) and Tinsukia (Assam) and Patna & Magadh (Bihar). Our Kolkata unit provides integrated solutions on the entire spectrum of healthcare, which includes hospital architectural planning and building, public health, quality accreditation and retail pharmacy other than running and managing hospitals. Medica Synergie, today, is a key player and a reference source in healthcare management and consultancy. Medica is today one of the largest healthcare providers in the Eastern India. How do you see current Indian Healthcare Industry? Is this satisfying? Healthcare sector in our country at present has a huge gap between supply and demand, especially in the secondary and tertiary care segments. Healthcare industry is far from adequate in order to address the health of over a billion of population. Since government infrastructure is not sufficient to cater to the entire demand, private players are coming in to fill the gap. It should be noted that as per the population, we have severe shortage of hospitals, doctors, para medics and administrators.
So, there has to be significant investment in the next few years to narrow the gap. How Medica group is helping India to become healthier? We are establishing healthcare centres in the form of both multispecialty and single speciality across the Eastern India to address health demand of the masses as well as classes. The speciality of Medica is the cutting edge technology and quality of services that we bring to the people. Medica is well equipped with the latest in line of equipment and manned by skilled professionals, which is as good as anywhere in the world. Now-a-days when a new technology comes, it normally gets launched across the globe on the same day. Our continuous effort is to make it available in India also for the Indian patient population. If you live in Ranchi, or Ramgarh or say Dhandhad, it does not mean that you will not have access to good healthcare. Medica is consistent in reaching tier2 and 3 cities with quality health services. Team of best doctors are with Medica Group. As they are with us, we can provide both skill and latest technology at an affordable price. What are your upcoming plans or future goals? We are the largest player in the eastern region of the country. No one in the East is as large or as wide-spread as Medica. There are many other national players in this domain but they have got just one or two centres in the East. We are the only one present in multiple states including Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Assam among others. We are mulling to expand in newer locations like Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, and cities of Uttar Pradesh among others. We have currently 14 units and we are constantly adding more in numbers. We would like to grow mostly by strategic brown field acquisition and expansion and we are on constant look out for such opportunities. What are your suggestions for upcoming chain of hospitals and multispecialty hospital’s founders? Being ethical and be on top of technology is the way forward. Health is getting under the scanner both politically and in public eyes, hence combination of technology and hospitality will save the day for future healthcare providers. The founders should think of improving communications with the patients and medical community by maintaining accuracy and efficiency in timely services to the patients and their families. Going forward, players have to be innovative in their approach as masses in this era,perceive their health and wellness in a different way as compared to what we noticed two-three decades ago. Please share with us your priority areas of work going forward? Patient-centric care and patient experience is the key to healthcare delivery, going forward.We at Medica would like to integrate skill, technology and empathic approach to achieve the above. All these must be aligned with affordability. This is going to be the biggest challenge…. w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
9
COVER STORY
Latest Advancement Navigation in Total Knee Replacement Total knee arthroplasty has been an effective treatment for advanced degenerative joint disease. Traditional knee designs and surgical approaches have resulted in consistently high performance, but some patients may remain dissatisfied after their surgery. Several surgical innovations, including accelerometer-based navigation, patientspecific instrumentation, and robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty, have been developed to improve the accuracy and precision of total knee arthroplasty surgery, with anticipated secondary benefits of improved functional outcomes and implant survivorship.
K Dr. Ashish Singh MBBS, MS Orthopaedics, MCh.Orth.(UK), SICOT International Diploma Orthopaedics(Sweden), Post Graduate Diploma CAOS (UK) Consultant Orthopaedic & Lower Limb Joint Reconstruction Surgeon and Medical Director, Anup Institute Of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Patna
10
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
nee arthroplasty has been indicated with growing frequency, especially over the last decade. Its success depends on various factors, such as component design, the quality of the material used to make the component, the manufacturing process, adequate patient selection and the surgical technique. Most of these are developed by the surgical material and implant industry, and the evolution of the industry has enabled great advances in the quality of the prostheses available. On the other hand, with regard to surgical technique, surgeons are the primary factor and evolution of concepts and surgical strategy are the main factors for advances. Within this field, the most significant advance over the past decade has been the emergence of navigation systems for knee arthroplasty. Computer Assisted Orthopedic Surgery (CAOS) is a field of technological evolution that has been developing particularly over the last 10 years. These include workstations for preoperative planning and simulation and robotics for use in carrying out surgical procedures, and among these, navigation systems. The basic precepts of knee arthroplasty include reestablishment of the alignment of the lower limb and maintenance or recovery of joint stability. Navigation systems provide guidance and they measure various intraoperative parameters that help surgeons to reach these objectives.
COVER STORY
About Dr. Ashish Singh Dr. Ashish Singh is a Consultant Orthopaedic surgeon with special interest in Lower limb joint reconstruction surgery. He is the Medical Director and heads Arthoplasty Unit at Anup Institute of Orthopaedic & Rehabilitation (NABH Accrediated Orthopaedic Hospital) Patna. After finishing his basic surgical orthopaedic training from Sancheti Hospital, Pune moved on for a bigger dream and completed his MCh.Orth. from Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Scotland (U.K).He successfully accomplished International S.I.C.O.T. Diploma orthopaedics at Sweden. During super speciality training, he realized that lower limb reconstruction is very important and hence perused further in joint reconstruction. He joined as a Speciality training registrar at Stirling Royal Infirmary, Scotland. He continued his speciality training at Royal infirmary of Edinburg, Scotland where he got an opportunity to work with masters in this field. For more focussed training he started fellowship training in adult Lower limb Joint reconstruction surgery at Golden Jubilee National Hospital. During his fellowship he developed interest in computer assisted and robotic joint replacement surgery and did Diploma (Post Graduate diploma in Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Systems – an EQL level 7 Advanced Diploma from Glasgow). He did formal training in revision and complex hip and knee replacements. He got opportunity to be a part of Royal Devon Hospital, Exeter Team, UK and did visit Oxford University Hospital to accomplish refinement in cemented total hip replacement and unicompartmental (half) knee replacement technique. He became honorary Registrar at Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast, UK to learn more about acetabular component positioning in total hip replacement surgery. After all this accomplishment He moved on to Patna to join Anup Institute and serve the people. He is a pioneer in East India to start navigation surgery (computer Assisted Total hip and Knee Replacement) within an all integrated I suite one of the best Operating Theatre in India as well. He has Special interests in Pelviacetabular Trauma and is working closely to devise a method of impaction grafting for acetabular reconstruction and managing neglected acetabular fracture. Over the past two and a half years he has had many oral presentations as a faculty in International and national fronts including presentation at A.I.I.M.S. New Delhi. He has been recommended as an International faculty teacher at Ninewell Hospital, Dundee, United Kingdom to teach MCh Orth. Students. He is also one of the members of Stryker, Marwah, USA (one of fortune 500 multinational healthcare company) research and Development team. He takes part in validating newer instruments a before launching in the market. He is also official consultant to Stryker, Johnson and Jonson, Depuy Synthes, the world leader in Orthopaedic implant systems. He has publications in indexed International Orthopaedic Journals. He has been associated with many National and International Organisations. He also serves at Indian Red Cross Society as
an Honorary Consultant and runs free outpatient services on weekly basis. Apart from facilitating Trauma Services at Anup Institute Dr. Singh has developed Arthoplasty unit at Patna where he caters patients not only from Bihar but also from North East India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh at an affordable rate as his vision is to cater the economically challenged people with the best world class service under one roof. He has brought latest Navigation cart- computerised Hip and Knee replacement platform to aid precision in these complex surgeries which is first and latest in East India. Under Dr Singh’s leadership and focus on quality and safety of the patient Anup Institute of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation(AIOR) has turned into state of the art centre for tertiary Orthopaedic care. As a result of his sheer perseverance and dedication AIOR has become the first Single speciality Orthopaedic Hospital to be accredited by NABH in Eastern India.
w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
11
COVER STORY
Pioneer in Online Pharmacy Unveiled Interview of Mr. Prashant Tondon
Prashant Tondon Founder & CEO, 1MG
Our model is not only legally sound, but actually significantly beneficial for the consumer as well as the regulator. Our model is a simple marketplace model – a consumer gives us the prescription and we pass it on to a third-party pharmacy 12
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
What was the tipping point for you to build 1mg? 1mg was started as HealthKartPlus in 2012 with the belief that for healthcare to change, we need to make sure consumers are informed and aware. It was an initiative within HealthKart to provide information about medicine like side effects, substitutes, compare prices of same products. We got a very good response for that product; almost 1 million downloads back when it was launched. We looked at it as different business opportunity. The app went completely viral and people embraced it and shared it with each other through Whatsapp messages. It became India’s largest health app and then we just kept adding features, learning from what our customers said. 1mg is an integrated health app and a marketplace for pharmacies, diagnostics and you can also find a doctor here. It’s an engagement as well as transactional platform. So, it provides 360-degree healthcare service at a few clicks. Our core competency is medicines. What were the challenges that you faced while attempting to strike fresh ground in the digital health domain? When we started, the regulatory understanding of our sector very poor across the board. They did not know where the regulatory standing of our platform was and we had to explain to them how our model is not only legally sound, but actually significantly beneficial for the consumer as well as the regulator. Our model is a simple marketplace model – a consumer gives us the prescription and we pass it on to a thirdparty pharmacy. We are not even technically an e-pharmacy, just a platform connecting the consumer to the pharmacy. The second challenge was from the consumer perspective – getting them into the habit of getting and sharing prescriptions. In an offline world, people often did not bother getting prescriptions and they could get any medicine they wanted – on the phone or through a pharmacy. Consumers used to get upset with us, while we were merely following the law when asking them to upload prescriptions. This really hindered our growth at that stage. The third challenge was that neither Google nor Facebook allow marketing for pharmaceutical products. So we had to have a more content-based growth, which makes the process slower but stronger. Thus, our consumers are less fickle in that sense.
COVER STORY
As we know selling online medicines is ban in India. What are the government norms to online pharmacy? There is no such ban - the Drug department has already clarified that all models, whether online or offline are equal under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, as long as they comply with the relevant provisions. In our model, we actually just collect prescriptions from customers and pass it to an offline pharmacy that delivers the order. Essentially, we connect an existing licensed offline pharmacy with a consumer, providing a better experience for all with full traceability of medicines sold. This ensures that we are not only compliant, but actually more value added as a model to the ecosystem Our e-pharmacy model is compliant with IT Act 2000, Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1940 and Pharmacy Practice Guideline 2015. When there are pharmacies around every corner, why would anyone buy things online? We use technology and professional expertise to make customer experience seamless in many ways Transparency on prices across medicines and labs Access: A nationwide network of quality and reliable delivery of healthcare products and services making otherwise-hardto-find medicines available to consumers across the country. Also, we provide the access to medicine info in multiple languages as well. Authenticity and quality in everything we do (we only allow certified labs, registered medical practitioners and licensed pharmacies to be a part of our network) Convenience: We provide a huge amount of convenience. In Healthcare more than in any other space, we do not think a consumer who is unwell should need to put any further effort to access healthcare Affordability: We remove a few layers of middlemen and run
efficient scale systems that extract value that is passed on to consumers. And consumers certainly appreciate that B etter disease management: People can take full benefit of value-added-services like daily health tips, pill reminder electronic medical records. Hence, chances of negligence are reduced. Being built on quality of content at the core and transparency as our fundamental value, we have managed to earn the trust of a lot of customers Do you provide the facility of online delivery service in only Delhi metropolitan cities or in other rural areas also? Currently, we are 605+ cities in e-pharmacy and are planning to cover most cities in India by the end of this year. We cover around 50 cities in diagnostics which is expected to reach 70 to 80 metro cities. Given the rise of numerous players in the digital health domain, what is your USP that places you in a different league? In healthcare, like any other promising space, it is expected that there will be multiple players. At the end of the day, if the consumer prefers a certain convenience, and someone is providing it, then almost all players will have to move towards that kind of a model. I think we are distinct in the sense that we are going after integrated health, not just pharmacy. But we are seeing competition in various dimensions of the business. Given the scale of the opportunity, to us, it is healthy that there are so many companies developing the market. Pharmacy itself is a $20 billion market, and we have some 4-5 significant companies in this space right now. So competition is not between us, but it is how much we can grow the market as a whole.
w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
13
COVER STORY
Diagnostic Revolutions: Technological Evolution in Medical Diagnostics has Changed the Face of Healthcare
Diseases can rarely be eliminated through early diagnosis or good treatment, but prevention can eliminate disease
Zoya Brar
Founder & MD, CORE Diagnostics It takes just 30 to 60 minutes today to perform a quick angiography and insert a stent to open a blocked artery to treat a heart attack patient. However, do you know that as recently as five decades back, there was no diagnostic tool available at the hands of doctors to determine the cause of a heart attack and evaluate the condition of the arteries? The use of cardiac catheterization to determine your heart condition was first developed in the 1960s. Even back then the procedure took several hours and could even cause severe complications. Today, with a series of incremental improvements, this procedure has become highly common and simple, and is one of the main reasons why a large number of heart patients manage to successfully live a long and productive life. This is just one example of how improvements in diagnostic technology have remarkably changed the face of 14
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
COVER STORY
healthcare over the past half a century. We credit improvements in treatment mechanisms for increased life expectancy and successful treatment of many hitherto fatal diseases. What we often fail to recognize is how this could not have been possible without radical advancements in diagnostic mechanisms.
Advances in pathogen detection The field of medical microbiology has taken several leaps to allow pathologists to diagnose infectious diseases and the pathogens causing them to a great detail. Rapid advances in immunology, molecular biology and chemistry have together made possible highly multiplexed assays which can determine the specific causes of a patient’s infectious disease through specimens of the blood, urine, sputum as well as stools. Detection of drug resistance in bacterial infections like tuberculosis is also possible today to allow physicians select more suitable anti-biotics for the patients. The problem of anti-biotic resistance is now fuelling a new area of research in clinical microbiology – that of enabling faster diagnoses of the exact type of causative microbes. Delay in diagnoses of the exact pathogen often prompts physicians to prescribe broad spectrum anti-biotics whose indiscriminate usage is contributing to the increasing antibiotic resistance. While a number of methods, such as mass spectrometry, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and flow cytometry have been developed for rapid bacterial identification, research is currently on to further hasten detection of microbial and host genetic sequences.
Advances in imaging technology One of the most remarkable transitions have taken place in Imaging Technology which allows clinicians today a clear view into internal injuries, tissue or muscle ruptures, tumors, organ malformations or trauma of the brain. Recent developments such as like CT scans, MRIs, and PET scans have had a huge positive impact on diagnosis and treatments of disease. MRI
today is considered the gold standard for testing internal injuries, checking anomalies in the brain or spine. With the availability of these detailed imaging techniques, more and more medical specialties are now relying on imaging. Cardiac angiography is an astute example of advancement in imaging technology. Similarly, digital mammography for breast cancer is a significant advancement over traditional mammography as it provides a much higher level of detail. In fact, digital mammography is believed to offer screening benefits over film mammography for women with dense breasts. Women with high breast density are more likely to develop breast cancer than women with lower breast density. Also, since digital mammograms are stored electronically, they can be seen on computers and easily shared between radiologists and doctors. Digital mammograms also use about 25% less radiation. The next round of research is focusing on developing imaging systems that can determine the chemical composition of living tissue to help in detection of diseases, something that traditional MRIs and CT scans are not capable of.
Genetic Testing Genetic testing is a relatively new branch of medical diagnostics which is revolutionizing the way several diseases, especially cancers, are treated. In fact, genetic testing has given a whole new preventive dimension to disease treatment. As compared to other diagnostics mechanisms that determine whether you have a disease or not, a genetic test helps determine whether an individual has a chance of contracting an illness or a genetic disorder. Genetic testing is done in various conditions. In parents who have a higher risk of transmitting a genetic disorder to their unborn child, pre-natal genetic testing helps the detect changes in a fetus’s genes. Similarly, genetic testing in newborn babies helps identify genetic disorders that can be treated early in
life. Pharmacogenomics is a branch of genetics that helps predict the response of a drug on an individual based on genetic variation. Pharmacogenomics is today being increasingly used in cancer patients to determine whether or not chemotherapy is required to treat the person, and thereby reduce over-treatment. Genetic testing is also being employed today to predict risk of recurrence of cancers. One of the most significant use of genetic testing is in testing mutation in BRCA1/BRCA 2 genes which indicate a significantly high risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
Future of Diagnostic Medicine: Moving towards Personalized Treatments Greater research in genomics has already informed us that the same disease can exhibit different patterns and behavior in different people depending upon genetic influences of the individual. This has heralded a new approach towards greater use of personalized medicine. Oncologists are today crafting different treatment approaches to suit different patients. A study undertaken at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in the UK used blood tests very accurately to predict relapse of cancer a good 6 months before any signs became visible. Diagnostics today is also using advanced technologies, big data, remote monitoring and ICT to make disease diagnosis a direct-to-consumer affair. This approach will only widen in the near future. Patients will not be needed to visit a doctor for regular diagnosis such as blood sugar, blood pressure etc, rather new technology will ensure patients diagnose themselves and doctors monitor their data via remote monitoring
w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
15
COVER STORY
AIIMS needs support from everyone to takes it to new height
Prof. Dr. RandeepGuleria
(AIIMS look forward to support to meet Transformational, Technological & Digital Challenges of Future Healthcare) What do you aim at as the Director of the country’s leading healthcare institution? AIIMSis something every Indian is proud of. As a director my responsibility is to be the guiding light of the institute. We are relentlessly working to ensure that it reaches exorbitant heights. We aspire to meet the expectations of the people.
What are the goal posts you would like to set up for AIIMS? Any advicefor other Indian healthcare institutions AIIMS was conceived with a mission which is known as The Trinity. At the core of The Trinity liesclinical research, education and patient care. We have catered to massive patient load with utmost clinical care, without deviating from other two core objectives of education and research. With the passage of time we have enhanced ourselves to become more patient centric. This is apparently reflected in shorter waiting period for OPD. We have been steadily working to achieve the same for the surgeries. Our prime endeavor at AIIMS is to develop a good research facility and thus encourage our young and budding researchers. This would bring our country parallel to medically advanced nations. The third most important is to make good doctors because that is the need of the hour. Medicinal technology has reached unimagined heights. Changes are soaring high and so have to be the curriculum. The curriculum has to quench the medicinal thirst of contemporary India keeping the pace with the international sequence of events.
Please let us know on Indian healthcare economics & dynamics with reference to AIIMs.
Prof. Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director AIIMS 16
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
One of the biggest challenges thatAIIMSis facing today is the enormous patient load. Owing to its excellent clinical credibilitywe receive not less than fourteen thousand patients every single day. It is a colossal challenge to manage that number of a people sans compromising the quality of the treatment. Another key challenge is to make the entire medical ecology patient friendly so that even the poorest people receive the best of the best treatment. We have been working day in and day out to providethem the best quality care despite our constraints. We have been trying to incorporate technology to handle this tedious loadas efficiently as possible.AIIMS is expanding. New centers, and new blocks are coming-up. So, these patients are
COVER STORY
sort of divided into different areas where we can either have an appointment system or a block system. This would enable us to call patients at different times and have an effective system for blood collection. This would ensure that thepatients have their reports on the same day.We tend to make AIIMS a patient friendly establishment.
Is there any shift or drift between intended objectives and delivered services in AIIMS? The responsibilities laid down on the hospital are always challenging. We are in constant need of equipments, beds, operation theatres and doctors. AIIMs was not modeled to cater to such a large patient load. It was actually meant to be a tertiary hospital with focus on research and education. However, withstanding the tests of time it has evolved as a huge hospital with both tertiary and primary care. Be it a mild ailment or any menacing disease, patients have placed their trust on us. Deficiency of beds compels us to refuse patients against our will. We have been trying to increase the efficiency of the systemto accommodate a larger number of patients
On marching ahead with Govt. Support to create better healthcare facilities. We can’t thank enough the government for the extensive support they have extended. We have set up various new centers. Another AIIMS has been set up in Jhajjar. A National Cancer institute has also been set up which would serve people from next year. This institute will havestate of the art equipments and would focus on research on cancer pertaining to India. We have also received funding for OPD and various blocks such as Mother& Child block, Surgery and Emergency. The government has tirelessly backed us and has thus set huge expectations on us. We are incessantly workingto fulfill these expectations.
Please elaborate your Vision 2022 for AIIMS? The vision is to bring AIIMS at par with the premier medical institutes of the world. We stride forward to strengthen economically backward class of the country, so that they receive
supreme medical facilities without getting any hole in their pocket. We are progressively working towards the maximum optimization of our resources by developing a mechanism to increase our bed strength and space ourselves out so that we don’t have a crowded OPD and at the same time our patients have a comfortable and appropriate waiting area. We accede to the prominence of a sound research facility which would give wings to our young faculty. This would not only produce far reaching researches but would also facilitate our partnership with global institutes for further collaboration.
Any message which you want to convey to our readers? We as Indians share a common vision to takeAIIMS to spanking heights. We ardently encourage support from our fellow countrymen to understand the constraints that AIIMS has. We seek support from private sectors especially as a part of their corporate social responsibility. There are various ways in which they can extend their support which would help us to takebetter care of patientsfrom different socio-economic backgrounds. We intend to provide adequate and refined health, education and research facilities.
About Dr. Guleria: Prof. Dr. Randeep Guleria is an Indian pulmonologist and the head of the Department of Pulmonology and Sleep Disorders at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, credited with the establishment of India’s first centre for pulmonary medicines and sleep disorders at AIIMS. He was honored by the Government of India in 2015 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award. He is the present director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
17
COVER STORY
The Leader with Difference Dr Narang brings with him more than 16 years of extensive experience in healthcare and operational delivery having been associated with several organizations of repute including Fortis, and Max Healthcare, to name a few. Dr. Narang has been instrumental in the initial project phase of Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon. He worked as GM Operations & Quality for more than five years and has a fair understanding of the Group’s organizational ethics and culture.He is responsible for overseeing operations at all hospitals and healthcare verticals of Paras Group including Paras Hospitals (the chain of multi super specialty hospitals), Paras Bliss (chain of mother and child care hospitals) and Paras Cancer Centre (chain of specialized cancer care centres). Dr. Narang did his MD from Moscow State Medical University and M.Phill in HHSM from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.
Dr. Shankar Narang COO, Paras Hospitals
Please tell us about the story behind its foundation of the Paras Healthcare? What are the key milestones achieved by the hospital so far? Paras Healthcare is established on three tenets – Accessibility, Affordability and Quality. We are differentiators in the healthcare industry and are key players that are instrumental in bridging the healthcare gap in India. All our endeavours, Super Specialty Hospitals in Gurgaon, Patna, Darbhanga and soon Panchkula are the first in the region and have been able to integrate with the community and emerge as key healthcare providers. Paras Healthcare is a no frill healthcare provider that specialises in providing affordable healthcare to the common man. From a single super specialty hospital in Gurgaon, established in 2006, today Paras Healthcre is 1000 18
bed strong and located in 7 locations – Gurgaon, Patna, Darbhanga, Panchkula (2), Noida and New Delhi. The key milestones that have been achieved by Paras Healthcare are: Paras Healthcare in Bihar: Largest healthcare employer in Bihar 1st in Bihar & Jharkhand to provide PET CT facility First in Bihar to provide comprehensive cancer care services – medical oncology, radiation therapy, brachytherapy and surgical oncology Paras Patna is also the first hospital in the state of Bihar to provide bone marrow transplant and kidney transplant In addition Paras Darbhanga is the first multi super specialty corporate hospital of Mithila and is also the first hospital to provide specialised cardiac, ortho, neuro & emergency care services. Paras Healthcare in Gurgaon: Paras Gurgaon was the first corporate hospital to be established in the region and was also the first NABH and NABL accredited hospital of the area. It is also the first private hospital in Delhi NCR to be equipped with brain tumour navigation technology and provide specialised neurology and
neurosurgery services along with Deep Brain Stimulation. Paras Healthcare in other areas: Paras Bliss Panchkula is the first boutique mother and child care hospital of Tricity and also the first to provide fetal medicine. Paras Bliss Noida shall be the first green mother & child care hospital in Noida. Paras Hospitals Panchkula shall be the first 220 bedded hospital in Panchkula to provide cancer care, cardiology, orthopaedics, neurosciences, to list a few. Is Paras Healthcare involved in Corporate Social Responsibility activities? Please tell us more. Paras Healthcare is based on the principles of Social Entrepreneurship and is established on three tenets – Accessibility, Affordability and Quality. Paras Healthcare has been at the forefront of empowering the common man with access to specialised healthcare and bridge the healthcare gap of India. Some of the initiatives that have made the same possible are:
COVER STORY
Paras Mobile Health Bus – The bus equipped with equipment for cardiac and cancer diagnosis has travelled all across Bihar to conduct camps and health checks for more than 1 lakh patients in the last one year. More than 25,000 patients have been given prelim specialised care and more than 5000 have been guided for specialised tertiary care treatment. Paras Cataract Seva - Numerous geriatric patients from the interiors of Haryana have been provided cataract surgery under the aegis of Ch. Ved Ram Nagar Trust. The hospital provides 360 degree services to the patient, from transportation to the hospital ,surgery, medicines, optical assistance and drop off to home. Through the initiative more than 1000 surgeries have been performed. Child Health Support CSR – Under this umbrella paediatric patients that need financial assistance for specialised healthcare services are provided help. Over the last one year numerous surgeries such as brain tumour surgery, paediatric heart surgeries and cancer surgeries have been performed. Praveen a 7 yr old boy in Patna treated for brain tumour surgery is an example on how the public appreciated the CSR initiatives of Paras Healthcare. What role can the private healthcare providers play in improving accessibility for the common public? It is essential for healthcare providers to understand the landscape and the need of healthcare in India. Majority of the players are focused on softer areas, the metropolitan cities, where the population has access to surplus healthcare players. Private healthcare providers need to focus in areas beyond 50 kms of the borders of the metropolitan cities. The Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are not actually upcoming cities but culturally old cities that are historically famous but still lack the basic healthcare amenities and access to specialised healthcare. Hence a cohesive plan needs to be worked out by all private players where they can play a major role in balancing the urban rural healthcare divide and also provide equitable healthcare to all. How do you look at the state of healthcare in India? What are the major challenges or gaps? There are numerous healthcare gaps in India. Manpower gaps, inequitable healthcare access, doctor patient ratio along with scarcity are issues that are obvious at the tip of the iceberg, however other major issues such as lack of funding, accountable plan of action, no framework on universal healthcare coverage make the landscape more complex.
About Paras Hospitals: Paras Healthcare was established in 2006, with the mission of providing specialized tertiary medical care services at affordable prices to under served communities across the country. This private healthcare provider stands apart from others in it’s vision of making healthcare for all a reality for ordinary people in rural and remote regions. Every single individual working in a ‘Paras’ Hospital- from doctors to nurses and the management- is united in the endeavor to deliver top quality healthcare to all. Paras Healthcare is a leader in establishing specialized hospitals in places that lack access to healthcare, specifically super specialty tertiary care. Each of it’s initiative is based on three tenets of healthcare- Affordability, Accessibility & Quality.
Future Plans The expansion strategy of Paras Healthcare has been broken into two Phases; Phase 1 is from 2015 to 2020 and Phase 2 is from 2021 to 2028. Expansion will primarily be in Tier 2 cities of the North Indian Hindi-speaking belt. “Our target is cities with a population of 2m+ that have a Medical College,” highlights Dr. Dharminder Nagar, Managing Director, Paras Healthcare. The focus will be on establishing tertiary care centers that focus on Oncology, Cardiology, Orthopedics and Neurology. These will evolve into specialized transplant centers. By 2020, Paras Healthcare intends to establish tertiary healthcare facilities in other Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities too, to bridge the gap between demand and supply. “Five years from now we will have a bed strength of 1500. This year we expect to have the group revenue cross 500 crore, and that should become 1000-1200 crores within the next 5 years with additional beds, services and hospitals being added,” says Dr. Nagar. Partnerships with private and governmental organizations are in the offing. “We are in talks with many governmental agencies for a chain of cancer institutes and tertiary care centres and also with private companies keen on collaborating in operations and management of hospitals,” he says. At the moment, Paras Healthcare is strictly focusing on its new chain of specialized mother and child care centres – Paras Bliss. The aim is to provide specialized maternity and neonatology care in areas where the same is deficient. Our units in Panchkula, New Delhi highlight the 3 tenets of Paras Healthcare – affordability, accessibility and quality. Keeping the same in mind Paras Healthcare shall be expanding its footprint in the next 5 years in 6 important cities of North India. For setting up a new unit, Paras mainly adheres to its three tenets of healthcare – present accessibility of healthcare in the region, presence of affordable healthcare at the location and last existence of a specialized quality healthcare provider. If any of the aspects can be addressed, Paras Healthcare participates in providing exceptional healthcare facilities that can touch the lives of millions and improve the health infra of the state/region. Paras Healthcare works on the principle of bridging the gap. By providing exceptional medical expertise, infrastructure and technology to areas that lack the same, Paras is able to initiate a healthcare revolution in the rural areas. Paras Patna, Paras Darbhanga, Paras Guragon along with Paras Panchkula are examples to highlight the same. w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
19
COVER STORY
A Positive Attitude to Have A Leadership Role A journey into Healthcare Procurement
-Vivek Tiwari
Vivek Tiwari Founder, CEO & Director, Medika Bazaar
Our journey started in Apr 2015 (we commercialized our operations) and have been progressing steadily since then. Initially we faced challenges which were manifold, since it is primarily a B2B concept; the initial challenge came in with the fact that there is no established B2B supplies platform in India, most of business to business solution enterprises are just for information and classified or advertisement purpose. We had to organize a massive campaign in medical institutions through direct contacts; digital medium etc to create awareness on this concept, the concept was well accepted due to the acceptance of problems from users in the identified area.
How it started The business model was conceived out of founders past experience in managing a chain of multi- location tertiary care clinics. It was during his involvement in a project of setting up of tertiary care clinics in India that he realized the medical supplies in tier 2 & 3 cities was a huge problem due to non-availability of reliable and steadfast vendors. This resulted into hospitals and medical institutions falling prey to the unorganized and inefficient procurement system in the medical fraternity. These identified problems resulted into an idea which could solve all these complex operational issues. Such an inefficiency and inadequacy of a proper system in 20
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
hospitals and medical institutions may adversely affect the end consumer and its affordability to healthcare. A digital procurement platform (for medical supplies) eliminating the geographical restrictions was nonexistent and it was a humungous task to engage multiple vendors and ask for price quotes, negotiation for purchases and there always existed a bigger challenge in getting the right price from a reliable vendor and there was no vendor who was covering an array of medical supplies. He envisioned that the need for setting up an innovative medical supplies platform was of paramount importance as healthcare facilities were being set up in tier 2 & 3 cities. The supplies were always a problem due to non-availability of last mile vendors / reliable suppliers in tier 2 & 3 cities. Medikabazaar aims to facilitate last mile delivery options to arranging SME loans (with the help of credit rating agencies and FI’s) options for the smaller institutions linked within our portal to facilitate B2B trading. It primarily works on PIN CODE based delivery system to achieve last mile distribution challenges. As our honorable Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi envisions, “I dream of a digital India where quality healthcare percolates right up to the remotest regions powered by e-Healthcare�; the concept of Medikabazaar and its creation is based on the similar vision.
COVER STORY
MedikaBazaar also works as a platform to identify and provide exhaustive information on your requirement.
MedikaBazaar offers innovative solutions like Tell us about MedikaBazaar? Its vision, Mission & Future expansion Plans? What we Do? / Our Approach ABOUT MedikaBazaar, MedikaBazaar is India’s largest online aggregator of medical supplies offering host of benefits to hospitals & medical establishments. An Innovator in Indian Health Care Industry, well known for its best solution oriented approach for primarily B2B and B2C segments. MedikaBazaar is a world of Healthcare supplies with a range of devices, equipment, consumables and disposables. Currently MedikaBazaar has over 6500+ hospitals & Healthcare institutions enrolled with us & more than 5000+ customers buying regularly from the platform. Our Head office is in Mumbai and has regional offices in Delhi NCR, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai and operations in several locations. Medikabazaar has a supply chain across India, Middle East and South Asia.
SOLUTION WE HAVE Procurement & Supply Chain partner with special focus on meeting demand on time & hassle free supplies. Reducing Procurement & Supply Chain cost as much as 30%. Facilitate Identifying, Comparing & Buying products at a competitive price online. Platform for innovative Med-tech companies/devices – identify and match requirements and opportunities. In a nutshell, MedikaBazaar offers you Right Product, Right Quantity, Right Price, Maximum Availability & Minimal Wastage.
Mission Our mission is “to ensure people have access to innovative and quality health treatment.”
Vision Our vision is to bring positive change in the current complex structure of medical supplies and make it easily accessible using technology, and breaking all geographical barriers.
MedikaBazaar offers host of benefits: Diversified procurement opportunity with no restriction on geographical limits and also reduce your overall Procurement & Supply Chain overheads substantially. P urchase analytics and a complete window to manage the procurement hassle free and in a most delightful manner. We also provide range of reports and analytics based on past purchases, recommendations and pricing of competitive products.
MedikaRecycle (a unique marketplace for used & refurbished medical equipment) MedikaStar (a unique B2B loyalty program aimed at savings on every order) MedikaXclusive (showcasing exclusive & innovative medical technology on MedikaBazaar platform). MedikaBazaar also offers SME financing options** and payment flexibility to medical Institutions. Our product specialist will also help you in choosing the right products for your establishment. In short we are one stop shop solution for all your Medical, Dental and Physiotherapy & Wellness Set up requirement.
Achievements Medikabazaar has won various accolades & has been featured on different media platforms MedikaBazaar has been awarded as the “Healthcare IT Company of the year” category in “7th MT India Healthcare Awards” in conjunction with “MEDICA MEDICAL FAIR 2017 (organized by Messe Dusseldorf, Germany)”, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi on 6th April 2017. MedikaBazaar is the winner of “Digital Innovations in Healthcare” at 4th Healthcare Summit in Delhi on 24th Aug organized by “Business World” in conjunction with “Yes Bank” Medikabazaar has been awarded for IBM Global Entrepreneur program “SmartCamp for Health Tech 2016” Medikabazaar has been awarded for Pitch Competition in Startup Worldcup India 2016 Medikabazaar has been awarded as Excellence in E-Healthcare Initiative by Legal League Consulting.
Expansion Plan By now, we are operational in 6 locations (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Chennai) across India and we will be setting up office in Bangalore soon. Fulfilment Center’s will be established in 8 more locations by June,2018 which will serve customers regionally thus saving time and increasing efficiency
How can you ensure quality and after sales support to your customers? After sales support is a way to make customers are satisfied with the products and services. The needs and demands of the customers are fulfilled for them to spread a positive word of mouth. In our scenario, positive word of mouth plays an important role in improving our brand image. We work on making loyal customers, so we are very considerate of providing our services to them. We have tie ups with top w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
21
COVER STORY
brands (hospitals) so we need to keep regular checkups with supplies for them. Our Sales Professionals/ business development teams always stay in touch with the customers even after the deal. They never ignore their calls. Not every person is a computer literate, so if the IT team finds any customer leaving the website they make sure that the information is passed to the business development team and then these teams work on acquiring the customer. The team helps them install, maintain or operate a particular product. Sales professionals are highly active on field and all queries raised by our customers are solved. We Take feedback of the products and services from the customers as it helps the organization to know the customers better and incorporate the necessary changes for better customer satisfaction. We send regular mailers based on new products, recently arrived products, new offers, exclusive products, refurbished products etc. We also provide product training to customers if incase needed. If the product is nuance, difficult to use or maybe it has some often underused features. Then for this purpose a tutorial is arranged which not only generates value but built long term customer engagement. Customer reacts to anything that is been provided extra. So we provide our services in such a way that delights our customers.
He envisioned that the need for setting up an innovative medical supplies platform was of paramount importance as healthcare facilities were being set up in tier 2 & 3 cities. The supplies were always a problem due to non-availability of last mile vendors / reliable suppliers in tier 2 & 3 cities. Medikabazaar aims to facilitate last mile delivery options to arranging SME loans (with the help of credit rating agencies and FI’s) options for the smaller institutions linked within our portal to facilitate B2B trading. It primarily works on PIN CODE based delivery system to achieve last mile distribution challenges.
What is your message to the procurement/ purchase managers?
Medical equipment /Disposable procurement We want the procurement managers to boost their profitability by accepting the online methods of growing business with us is a big challenge into tier 2-3 cities, how rather than going through the traditional means. you are helping them for guaranteed quality Also we have IT team and BD team who are ready to give products on time? The business model was conceived out of founders past experience in managing a chain of multi-location tertiary care clinics. It was during his involvement in a project of setting up of tertiary care clinics in India that he realized the medical supplies in tier 2 & 3 cities was a huge problem due to nonavailability of reliable and steadfast vendors. This resulted into hospitals and medical institutions falling prey to the unorganized and inefficient procurement system in the medical fraternity. These identified problems resulted into an idea which could solve all these complex operational issues. Such an inefficiency and inadequacy of a proper system in hospitals and medical institutions may adversely affect the end consumer and its affordability to healthcare. A digital procurement platform (for medical supplies) eliminating the geographical restrictions was non-existent and it was a humungous task to engage multiple vendors and ask for price quotes, negotiation for purchases etc and there always existed a bigger challenge in getting the right price from a reliable vendor and there was no vendor who was covering an array of medical supplies. 22
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
their support at every point.
Medikabazaar is coming up with EMI options and loan facilities (SME’s Loans), so we want our customers to utilize maximum benefits provided by the company. We have reward points system, wherein if they register with us they get 2000 medikastar reward points. Further they can redeem these points as per their purchases. Our website is user friendly, you can purchase product as per your requirement with a single click. We have already listed 70k plus products and we have 700+ suppliers, which gives a wide range of products with multiple brands. We have given the customer the power to choose from a list of brands. Customers can view order history, generate price quotes and generated price quotes history to get an overview of their purchases made through us. We target on giving the customer a hassle-free experience. We also have mobile based applications which work on android and ios, and we have a positive response for this by way of app installations. (20000+ apps installed till date)
COVER STORY
The size of the Indian in-vitro Diagnostics market is pegged at over half a billion US Dollars. Veena Kohli
CEO, Vanguard Diagnostics (P) Ltd.
Tell us about your journey into healthcare: On completing a Master’s degree in Pharmacology from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), entering the healthcare industry, emerged as an eminent path. Subsequently, I joined Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited as a trainee. Not long after, Ranbaxy launched its Diagnostics division and I got the opportunity to be part of the technical team. With this, began my journey in the field of in-vitro Diagnostics. Today, I have 30+ years of experience in the domains of Medical Diagnostics and Life Sciences. I have had the privilege of developing expertise and a holistic skill set across the entire value chain of capabilities; starting from R&D, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain & Product Management to Domestic & Global Business Leadership. My career in healthcare,was enriched through work experience with blue- chip organizations like Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited; Ranbaxy Fine Chemicals Limited, RFCL Limited and finally with Avantor Performance Materials USA, where I served as the Global Head & Vice President for the Diagnostics Business Unit.
You have contributed more than 3 decades into the diagnostics sector what are the ups & downs you have seen in healthcare diagnostics? During the late 1980s and the early 1990s, a few leading Indian Pharma companies,like Ranbaxy and Lupin, had launched their Diagnostics divisions, with a focus on in-house R&D and indigenous manufacturing. Despite a seemingly promising start, limited access to technology skewed the trend towards imports in the following years. In the early 2000’s, imports were as high as 90%, spanning a majority of reagents and nearly all instruments. The scenario has improved somewhat in the past 15 years, primarily attributable to increasing awareness and affordability in India, which is driving the demand for quality healthcare including diagnostics. This is encouraging a number of professionals with technical know-how to set up SMEs for the local manufacturing of diagnostics products. Presently, the overall import to domestic ratio in India, has improved to a level of 60% :40%. The size of the Indian in-vitro Diagnostics market is pegged at over half a billion US Dollars. It is a promising segment growing 24
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
COVER STORY
at a CAGR of over 15% in India, against the global growth rate of only 5%. The industry needs an impetus through Government policies to be able to realize its full potential.
Latest advancement in the IVD Sector: I ncreasing demand for IVD tests in India is, in turn increasing the work load on pathology laboratories, which are rapidly adopting automation to maintain their turn-around-time and consistent quality. N ewer technologies like Molecular Diagnostics are gaining momentum due to their superior sensitivity and specificity. P oint of Care Testing at home or at the physicians’ desk is gaining popularity.
About your venture Vanguard Diagnostics: Vanguard Diagnostics (P)Limited, was founded by four professionals,with a collective experience of over 100 years in the diagnostics industry and with expertise in R&D, Manufacturing, Quality and Leadership. Our overarching objective is, enhancement of the quality, affordability and accessibility of healthcare in India. Vanguard Diagnostics has grown by ~ 4-fold during the two complete financial years since its inception, in February 2015. We envisage ourselves as being the first-choice partner, of all non-manufacturing companies based in India and the subcontinent. Haematology continues to be our flagship segment, augmented by a formidable development team and high production capacity. With a manufacturing capacity of 1.5 million litres per annum, we are the youngest and one of the largest manufacturers of haematology reagents in India. Our business model aims at reducing the need for import and giving an impetus to the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
New products, New technologies Our journey has led us to a crucial juncture where we face a challenge, also shared by a majority of our industry i.e. self -reliance in instruments. We fully acknowledge that the following critical components will be required to bridge the aforementioned gap: E asy access to technology. A vailability of major components locally. S upport from the Government to give preference to domestic products. Whilst we wait for encouraging developments in this sphere, our objective remains to collate the optimal product basket for our customers. The said basket, would comprise instruments based on cutting edge European technology, paired with customized, high quality Haematology reagents manufactured locally; thereby delivering international quality at an affordable price. To achieve this, Vanguard Diagnostics signed its third exclusive contract with Diagon- Hungary, in September this year. The agreement entails the marketing of a unique 3 part Haematology analyzer -D Cell 360, based on Diagon’s expertise of thirty years in the field. In doing so, we believe, our offering is truly unique - an instrument that rises above the crowd of Chinese analyzers, teamed with our high quality, domestically manufactured reagents, that would save our customers from substantial import duties, exorbitant freight costs, long lead times and complex regulatory procedures.
Products manufactured by our business Vanguard Diagnostics is engaged in the development, manufacturing and marketing of high quality in-vitro diagnostics reagents in the segments of Haematology, Clinical Chemistry and Immunology. At Vanguard Diagnostics, we strive to enrich our portfolio continually with contemporary technology. We have developed, manufactured and marketed reagents for over ten, 3-part Haematology analysers, in a short span of two years. Additionally, we became amongst the first, to manufacture reagents for leading models of 5- part Haematology analysers, in the country. Our passion for branching into the adjacent space, led us to become the singular company in India, to provide high-calibre, equivalent solutions for Flow Cytometers.
w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
25
COVER STORY
Healthcare at Home can reduces the burden of Infrastructure in India Vivek Srivastava
CEO & Co-founder, HealthCare atHOME (HCAH)
Also, there is only one doctor in the country for every 1,700 people. And most of their time is consumed in route work, leaving little time for high-quality work. The country cannot build as much capacity because it would take a lot of time, effort and money. If the country needs to solve this problem, homecare is a very apt solution. It aims to utilise the beds at patients’ homes to provide them healthcare at home, by extending the reach of doctors to provide medical solutions at home. Thanks to this unique concept, the burden of routine work can be taken over by professionally nurses, specialised physiotherapists, healthcare assistants, nutritionists & psychologists, leaving doctors to utilise their time on more high-end clinical work. The use of remote monitoring technology – through devices that can measure, diagnose and treat at home, with regular updates to/from the consulting doctor -- make the change even more effective. Besides, India’s changing demography, where an ever-growing number of people are moving out of the joint family set-up to live in nuclear families, is creating huge demand for healthcare services at home.
Tell us, what is the market size of the healthcare at home business? How are you placed in this universe?
Healthcare at Home entered India’s home healthcare space in 2012. Walk us through your journey till now. We have served 4,00,000+ patients across India, and with high customer satisfaction (NPS >70 per cent). We have expanded our footprint to over 40 cities. Revenues have grown at 400x on monthly basis. From 5 staff in 2012, HCAH is now a 1,200 people organisation. Also, we work with most of the top pharmaceutical companies in India to deliver patient support programs developed around their drugs. We also help increase diseases awareness, screening and diagnostic. We have partnered with large hospital chains like Fortis and Manipal to provide homecare support to their patients.
Explain the concept of Healthcare @ Home, and how does it fit in India? According to WHO data, India has 0.9 beds per 1,000 population. Global Average and WHO recommendation is much higher. While hospitals in the public sector lack the required infrastructure, those in the private sector are overburdened. 26
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
Globally, the home healthcare segment is 3-6 per cent of the total healthcare market. Using that as a guiding principle, the Indian home healthcare market can reach INR 10 lakh crore by 2020. According to World Health Statistics (2015), India needs to add at least 6,50,000 beds by 2017, requiring a capital investment of INR 1.6 lakh crore. Home healthcare service providers can help bridge this gap, thus, reducing the pressure on hospital infrastructure, ensuring smooth transition from hospital to home, reducing the chances of re-admission, providing quality healthcare in Tier I and Tier II cities and reducing treatment cost. HCAH is among the early birds in this space and therefore, enjoy the related benefits. HCAH is here for the long term and is well-positioned to deliver world-class services at Indian costs. These are early days for India’s home healthcare service industry, and we are seeing palpable interest for our services among our clients (patients). I think, HCAH is in a sweet spot in India.
What are your growth plans? From a team of 1,100+, HCAH plans to scale up to 15,000 by 2020. By 2020, we plan to be reach out to cities with 20
COVER STORY
lakh population, both in India as well as overseas, and expand our collaboration with top pharma and insurance companies in India. We have targeted INR 1,000 crore revenue by 2020.
What are the challenges in healthcare @ home services? How can you ensure patient safety and quality? People find it hard to believe that high-end healthcare services can be delivered at home. They feel they can get good services only though admittance in hospitals. So, one challenge is to educate the customer that this is possible. We attempt to break this myth by showing evidence and experiences of existing consumers. The industry is facing a crunch of qualified & trained paramedics. We are overcoming this problem by educating people from non-medical backgrounds. Depending on their skill-sets, they are trained either as nursing attendants, or phlebotomists or ECG technicians. This eases the work pressure on nurses, helping them to focus on increased number of patients. We ensure patient safety and quality by offering protocol-led, credible, accountable, technology-driven healthcare services at home via experienced, specialized and trained staff. We have robust a IT platform, namely Patient Care System (PCS), in place.
We use emerging Web-based technologies which lead to patient empowerment. In tie-up with Critinext, we provide 24/7 intensive care to long-term ICU patients, who are e-monitoredby doctors via ICU set-ups in their homes. The homecare provider will provide every minute detail to the treating doctor through a Home Visit Report (HVR), so that precise and appropriate treatment is given to the patient. We have a robust emergency response process. All our nurses are BLS trained and carry anaphylaxis kit to act if required.
What do you expect from the government? The government should provide an enabling environment for the sector to grow. It should keep home healthcare out of the ambit of GST, and make universal health insurance coverage compulsory. IRDA should enable the environment to make the insurers cover homecare in the all policies. Home healthcare should be covered under all government insurance schemes like CGHS, ECHS etc The government should also ensure that we have certain standards and regulation to ensure standardized care and high quality clinical delivery for the customers.
w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
27
COVER STORY
THE WATER MAN OF INDIA DRINK PURE WATER, BREATHE FRESH AIR & LIVE HEALTHY
Dr. Mahesh Gupta
Chairman & Managing Director, Kent RO Systems Ltd.
28
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
Mr. Mahesh Gupta, a first generation entrepreneur, is known worldwide for revolutionizing the water purification industry in India. He is the Founder-Chairman of Kent RO Systems Ltd., India’s leading water Purifier Company. Mr. Gupta, an IIT graduate from Kanpur in Mechanical Engineering and an alumni of Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, began his early career in 1978 with prestigious IOCL. In 1988 he bid goodbye to the oil sector giant and with a minimal seed capital at his disposal, ventured into the business of manufacturing instruments for oil testing and checking its pilferage. He went commercial under the brand name KENT OIL METERS which went on to be a successful business. In 1998, Mr. Mahesh Gupta entered the health care segment and launched the first domestic RO water purifier. He started the company from a scratch and competing with the leading national & international brands, Kent RO Systems Ltd. is today the leading and most dynamic water purifier company in India, commanding a market share of about 40% in RO water purifier segment. In recognition of his contribution to the water purification industry, he is known as the PURE WATER MAN of India.Mr. Gupta has also been conferred upon by an Honorary Doctorate degree by Sri Sri University Orissa, for his contribution in providing safe and healthy drinking water in Rural and Urban areas. Mr. Mahesh Gupta has more than half a dozen patent technologies to his credit, a manifestation to his passion for technological quest and an innovative bent of mind.With ambitious growth plan, innovative marketing strategies and state-of-the-art technology, Mr. Gupta is today a man on fast track. A little known fact about Mr. Gupta is his inclination towards spirituality. He is a disciple of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji, has been an active member of the Art of Living family. He has always been eager to give back something substantial to the humanity. Recently he adapted 8 backward villages with a commitment to provide clean water and build toilets for improving conditions of sanitation. Mr. Gupta also takes out time to guide young minds and channelize their energy in right direction, through guest lectures at several MBA institutes and entrepreneurship development programs. He has also opted to be a mentor under the IIT Alumni Association. He is closely associated with the PHD Chamber of Commerce and is PHD’s Immediate Former President. PHD is a proactive and dynamic organization working at the grass-root level and with strong national and international linkages and playing a role as a catalyst in the promotion of industry, trade and entrepreneurship.
COVER STORY
Today we are all witnessing a revolutionary phase in the human history. Technology is changing every second and latest innovations are flooding the arena. From advancements in space & astronomical sciences, to innovations in medicine allowing interventions at a cellular level, the process of evolution has become very fast. However amidst the fast evolving life, we are missing out on the most essential elements of life. We are constantly damaging our environment and human beings’ access to pure water and fresh air has become increasingly scarce. We at Kent, work towards empowering every individual to have pure water to drink and fresh & healthy air to breathe. We are constantly innovating and offering consumers the most advanced and practical solutions to have access to the most basic of natural resources.
WATER Everyone knows
that our drinking water is not as good as it was during our forefather's time! Due to climatic changes, drought, alarming levels of salinity, industrial wastes, sources like river, catchments and reservoir systems are under dire stress which deteriorates the water quality day by day. Further, one does not get sufficient water from rivers and has to resort to underground water, which generally is contaminated with dangerous dissolved
impurities like Arsenic, Fluorides, heavy metals etc. that can cause life threatening medical conditions. By the time water (municipal or ground water) reaches our tap, it gets contaminated which leads to water borne diseases. Findings on the issue by parliamentary committee appointed were recently presented in Lok Sabha highlighting occurrence of high arsenic content in ground water. As per reports, in India, around 80% of the rural population and about 50% of the urban population use ground water for domestic purposes. Water quality issues like arsenic, salinity, nitrate iron, fluoride and heavy metals in water due to geogenic and anthropogenic reasons have been reported from various parts of the country. High Arsenic content in ground water affects the human, animal, soil and plant systems. Over one lakh deaths and 2 to 3 lakhs of confirmed cases of illness have reportedly been caused by groundwater arsenic. The report further says as many as 98 districts in 13 States have been affected by high arsenic contamination in ground water. 70.4 million People in 35 districts alone have been exposed to groundwater arsenic. Another parliamentary panel recently has expressed its concern at the massive problem of discharge of ‘untreated’ filth into rivers which requires a huge amount of money (Rs. 1,10,000 crore to 1,80,000 crore) for setting up additional sewage
treatment plants (STPs) to save these critical water bodies across the country. The panel gave its report to the Parliament during the budget session. It has noted that nearly two-thirds of the sewage generated in urban areas across the country goes into rivers untreated, leaving water bodies severely polluted. Incidentally, more than two-thirds of the sewage generated in 118 towns, located in the Ganga river basin, also get discharged into the river untreated. A recent government report has noted that these towns collectively generate over 3,636 million liters per day (MLD) of sewage as against the treatment capacity of approximately 1,027 MLD of the existing 55 STPs in these towns spread over five states. Against this backdrop, in last decade RO technology based water purifiers have emerged as an answer to all these serious problems. Through this path breaking technology one can remove dangerous dissolved impurities like Arsenic, Fluoride and Pesticides, besides removing bacteria and viruses. Over the years, some companies have evolved RO technology further and have taken the technology to next level. For example, earlier Conventional RO purifiers were used as stand alone systems for removing bacteria, viruses & dissolved impurities. But while removing dissolved impurities these systems would end-up removing essential minerals too, which are so important for our health. To arrest these problems Kent offers a double purification technology of RO + UF / UV with TDS Controller which removes dissolved impurities like Arsenic, Fluoride and Pesticides, besides removing bacteria and viruses but retains essential natural minerals in purified water. However, the problem of RO Systems have been their limitation of wasting significant water during purification. Most RO Purifiers waste about 80% water while purification process. Kent offers the consumers a unique RO Water purifier which has no water wastage. The recovery rate of pure water is 50% and the balance 50% reject water is stored in a Reject Water tank in the w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
29
COVER STORY
purifier, which is used for household purposes like wasting utensils, mopping & gardening, thus eliminating the wastage of water. This is a great step towards sustainable future and thoughtful use of precious resources.
Air In past few months media has reported how we've been gripped,
with a sense of panic due to air pollution. It's like being told one is living next to an active volcano that might erupt at any moment. The statistics are certainly grim. For example, Bangalore's air on any given day is as toxic as the smoke from six cigarettes a day while inhaling Delhi air is equivalent to puffing 20 in a day, according to a study by the United Nations Environment Program. Last year, as reported by the media 13 of the 20 most-polluted cities in the world were in India - with Delhi considered the worst. The national capital has the highest concentration of PM2.5 — particulate matters less than 2.5 microns– form of air pollution, which is considered most serious and can cause respiratory diseases and other health problems. The situation is so bad in Delhi that its air has PM2.5 concentrations of 153 micrograms and PM10 concentrations of 286 micrograms – much more than the permissible limits, as reported in the media.
30
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
Thankfully, India has begun monitoring air quality very closely in an effort to fight some of the world's worst urban pollution. Many Factors Contribute to Increase of Air Pollution, including reliance on fossil fuels such as coal-fired power plants, dependence on private transport motor vehicles, inefficient use of energy in buildings, and the use of biomass for cooking and heating. The most harmful air pollutant is the Particulate Matter, which is so minute that the natural human Defence systems are unable to check its ingress in our respiratory system. PM 2.5 particularly enters our respiratory track and settles on the bronchioles of our lungs, thus causing alarming problems like Bronchitis, asthma and in aggravated cases, cancer as well. Room Air purifiers can help to trap particulate matter present in the air and therefore they reduce PM 2.5 level which help consumer to breath better. An air purifier is a small portable machine that removes bacteria, virus and particulate matter that can be inhaled. For the same amount of power a ceiling fan uses, it strips the air of major pollutants including dust, pollen, mould, dander and tobacco smoke using various filtration techniques. Kent has come out with a range of Room Air Purifiers based on the High Efficiency Particulate Arrestor (HEPA) Technology that remove the particulate matter up to 99.97%. The Kent HEPA Air Purifiers have a multi purification process of Pre Filter, Carbon Filter and Japanese HEPA filter, which ensures pure air inside the room.
COVER STORY
OSB Life Sciences
www.osbindia.com
Pioneers and Innovators in Life Sciences Products for 25 + Years in India. Dr. Rohit Bhatia is the Managing Director of OSB Life Sciences and OSB Agencies Private limited. OSB Life Sciences is a renowned leading provider of Research & IVD Kits, Antibodies and Reagents with over 25+ years of successful track record of providing most advanced life sciences products & services. Dr. Rohit Bhatia is a successful entrepreneur in life sciences and healthcare industry with over 20+ years of wealth of experience and has been instrumental and pioneer in bringing world’s best technology in life sciences products to India. A man gifted with intellect, vision to succeed, creativity, entrepreneurial passion, Dr. Rohit Bhatia is well known to have successfully created one of the most trusted corporate brand-OSB Life sciences which is one of the most trusted supplier of Biomedical Research and Clinical Diagnostics Reagentsto premier hospitals, medical and research institutes and laboratories. Dr. Rohit Bhatia is a renowned doctor, healthcare products campaigns strategists and has been instrumental in launching several advanced and high end healthcare product lines in Biotechnology, Biomedical Research, Clinical Diagnostics Reagents, Diagnostic Kits & Immuno chemistry Reagents for clinical as well as for research use in India by importing them from across the globe, especially from USA, Europe and Japan. Dr. Rohit Bhatia is a forward looking and passionate entrepreneur with a big vision about life sciences and healthcare industry and regularly participates in several key healthcare industry events like Medica in Europe, European Congress of Pathology, MedLab, Arab Health in Dubai and Amercian Association of Clinical Pathologist events in USA and many more.
ABOUT OSB LIFE SCIENCES ( A DIVISION OF OSB AGENCIES PRIVATE LIMITED ) OSB Life Science ( www.osbindia.com) is a leading company with over 25+ years of successful track record in providing world’s best in class products and services of Health care, Biotechnology, Biomedical Research, Clinical Diagnostics Reagents, Diagnostic Kits & Immuno chemistry Reagents for clinical as well as for research use. OSB life Sciences is one of the most trusted and preferred supplier partner for premier medical institutes, laboratories, Hospitals, Researchers, academicians, laboratories and pharmaceutical industry across India. OSB Agencies has enjoyed its reputation as one of the most reliable supplier of speciality kits, reliable service & quality products for more than 25 years and successfully lived up to its goodwill, reputation and its mission of “BEST SERVICES FOR HEALTH”. OSB Life Sciences possess 25 years of wealth of deep industry experience with proven ability to introduce new product lines and expand sales across India. OSB Life Sciences have well trained and experienced team and believe in building trustworthy relationships with our customers and key opinion leaders of the Healthcare Industry. OSB Life Sciences has direct sales force and distribution partnerships throughout the country. For the last 25 years, we have maintained our leadership position in helping laboratories to standardize the test parameters in their local conditions through our expertise in handling IHC, Elisa and Research use products by technical means. We have been supplying all such kits throughout country & are able to maintain a cold chain till the products reaches to the end users.
Dr. Rohit Bhatia Managing Director- OSB Life Sciences and OSB Agencies Private Limited
OSB Life Sciences is into several product lines like Antibodies for Routine & Research Use, PCR Based assays, Hemostasis and Thrombosis, Elisa kits for Routine & Research Use, Drug and Anti-drug Monitoring Assays (for Biosimilars), Bio-pharmaceuticals as says, Research Antibodies, Immuno histochemistry, Drug-monitoring assays, Hemostasis & Coagulation, Molecular Diagnostics, Vaccine Assays, Immuno as says, Veterinary Assays and many more. OSB Life Sciences USP is that we work with the best brands, we are high on quality, we have well trained and experienced team to handle all product groups. We have all India presence through our own regional offices, sales representatives and distributors. We have Innovative Laboratory solution to support our customers, in house quality control, standardization, troubleshooting and technical support. We also work on key projects in collaboration with various Academic Institutions and provide training and support to research scholars and Lab technicians. w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
31
COVER STORY
Since Indian Healthcare Is 75% Private Driven,
The Synergy to Integrate Govt.-Private Partnerships will have A Good Impact for all of us.
Prof. Dr. Sanjeev Bagai Padma Shree presendiatial awardee, Dr. B. C. Roy National Awardee VC & Director Manipal Dwarka hospital. Chairman Medical Advisory Board, Senior consultant Paediatrician and nephrologist. MBBS (Bom), DCH (Bom), MD (Paed), MNAMS (Paed), DNBE, MIPA (USA), FSCH (Australia), FIMSA.
The scenario of health care today is shifting to home care, remote monitoring, ambulatory care, day care surgeries. The emphasis of health care providers and insurance companies will shift to wellness and not illness. Patient centricity will become the fire value base. Clinical outcomes as evidence based medicine will be the rule now to determine performances. 32
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
Prof. Dr. Sanjeev Bagai is a multi-faceted individual of International repute who has garnered immeasurable prestige and honour for his highly distinguished and meritorious work as India’s foremost Paediatrician & Paediatric Nephrologist and an astute Health Administrator. He delivers International Standard World class health care, with uncompramising commitment. Today, his practice is a benchmark, enriched by vast & extensive knowledge, infused by enthusiasm, for others to emulate. Being in the forefront of clinical & research practice, his focus is on preventive Medicine. Dr. Sanjeev Bagai is a leading Pediatrician & Pediatric Nephrologist, of International repute. He is a skilled Physician, who judiciously combines Medical knowledge, intuition, & judgment to integrate tact, sympathy & understanding in treating children. He exemplifies the highest values of being a caring & compassionate, multi-faceted doctor. He is the Chairman & Managing Director of Nephron Health Care in Delhi & Vice Chairman, Director & Head of academics Dwarka Manipal Hospital. His prolonged efforts and foresightedness are immensely critical in envisioning and instituting India’s premium Women’s and Children’s hospital & Super Speciality 470 bedded Hospital – Medical Research centre, in Delhi. The breakthrough establishment shall significantly enhance the maternal and child health in Northern India. Also there is a huge need-gap in clinical services for the same. This effort will undoubtedly go a long way to give impetus to Medical aid & health education. This will undoubtedly be an epitome of world class health care, with cutting edge technology in teaching, clinical, research, training and advanced technologies. This will have India’s first integrated assisted living facilities for the elderly, centre for children with physical and mental disabilities, etc. He is on faculty with the largest Super Speciality University & Women and Child network hospitals & chain of teaching American University, of America – UTMC, world leaders in clinical, research, teaching, biotechnology, etc. and Partners with Manipal Hospitals as a global leader in Health & Education. He has also got formal affiliations with University of Pittusburg Medical College (UPMC), USA for patterning in technological advancements. Under one roof the best talent pool is being created. The full project will have – hospitals –Super speciality & dedicated for women and child – 470 beds in both centres together. It will have centres for Women-Children, CTVS, Cardiology, Neurology, Neuro surgery, Gastroenterology & organ transplantation, Renal sciences & RTT, general surgery, Orthopaedics & joint replacement, pulmonary & critical care, Internal medicine, paediatrics & all its allied branches, IVF, Obs-
COVER STORY
Gyn, Plastic surgery, Urology, Endoscopic surgery, Oncology centre, the most advanced Lab & Radiology centres, Robotic centres, cyber knife, etc. research institute, biotechnology and bio-engineering-nano technology institute, regenerative medicine-stem cell centre, teaching, accommodation, guest house facilities, recreation and sports centre, hub for international medical tourism, genomics and robotic centre, holistic medical centre, centres of excellence in all major clinical departments, tele medicine centre, centre for virtual reality and artificial intelligence, simulation centre, rehabilitation centres etc. These hospitals in Northern India are the first of its proto type, in numerous avenues. The largest dedicated Women’s & children’s hospital, India’s first comprehensive digital smart hospital, would be the highlighting features of these hospitals. This will give more affordable & accessible health care to millions. He realised many years back, that digital technologies will change the face of Indian health care, with varied revolutionary advancements. He has pushed treatment protocols from therapeutic to preventive & personalised genomics. This is a great momentum booster to our Digital India Movement. Applications like RFID, Sensor controlled OTs Mobile apps, tracking, Watson, Robotic advanced surgeries, Remote monitoring, etc will aid all patients with better clinical outcomes at lower rates. These will also open infinite doors for International Medical Tourism, and have attracted patients from every continent to India, including from Congo, Ethiopia, PNG, Fiji, Kenya, Nigeria, Middle East etc. This puts India on prime global health map. Tele medicine & Tele mentoring have linked critical ill cases to his centres to save many lives. It’s a virtual hospital created with high end technologies. He believes that knowledge is the strongest global currency and education being the DNA of our progress. The Highlights are- women and child hospital in North India with a super speciality centre with biotechnology and research centres, education-medicine-technology-research city in India. This hospital will be A Green & Smart fully digital hospital, focussing on paper less technology, water & energy conservation & environmentally safe hospital. Through this development of advanced technology he has helped link far away developing countries to gain access to India’s finest health care like in Congo, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Ethiopia etc. His active collaboration with the best international teaching universities of USA & Canada will help materialise the commencement of a revered medical centre of research, education, clinical hospital, teaching etc. He is a visiting Professor to Universities of Ohio in USA & Montreal in Canada where he is invited to lecture, since the greatest global currency is education. He’s been a graduate and post graduate of KEM & GS Medical College, having done his MBBS, MD, DCH, DNBE and MNAMS all in paediatrics, from Bombay then had done a Fellowship in Paed. And Paediatric Nephrology at the Prince of Wales Children Hospital and Prince Henry Hospital at SydneyAustralia In addition, he did his early training in the New
York University Hospital., USA and completed his Fellowship of the International medical science academy. He has special expertise & fellowship training in Pediatric Nephrology & Kidney Diseases, & was one of the pioneers to establish world class Pediatric Nephrology & Dialysis programmes in New Delhi, in early 1990s. He has done extensive work on Pediatric Hypertension, Glomerular disease and so on. He has a major research data on antenatal diagnosis of fetal renal disorders. He started the CAPD programme in small infants with renal failure. He has a vast experience in teaching & conducting CMEs & Workshops to educate doctors & the general public to prevent long term damage caused by renal diseases in small children. Born on March 31, 1965, he had a highly meritorious & distinguished career, right from his early school days. Being educated in the best & premium institutions in India & overseas, he inculcated discipline & vision in his personality from early childhood. His schooling was in the renowned Bishop’s School (Poona), La Matiniere school (Calcutta), & Cathedral School (Bombay). His dynamic personality, quick wit, academic brilliance, tremendous organizational skills & leadership qualities, made an automatic choice in various pivotal positions. He graduated from St. Xavier’s College Bombay, & has been one of their most illustrious alumni. He was honored in 2008 & 2009 for outstanding achievements in the medical field, at the 140th anniversary function of St. Xavier’s College. He’s a gold medallist from Bombay University, with distinctions in 7 subjects & also the Bombay University merit scholar and Sir Dorab Tata merit scholar. Being a perpetual student, with an inquisitive & avid mind, he joined medicine at the famous G.S. Medical College & K.E.M Hospital in Bombay on merit for M.B.B.S. Being a topper in Bombay University, he did his Pediatric Post Graduation of M.D. & D.C.H from the largest Pediatric Hospital in India, The Wadia Children’s Hospital in Bombay. Thereafter, he completed his D.N.B.E. before proceeding for specialized training in New York University Hospital, & then a merit-fellowship in Pediatric Nephrology at the renowned Prince of Wales Children’s Hospital, Sydney, Australia in 1992. Almost two decades ago, he recognized the fact that Pediatric Sub-specialization would be the need of the hour & was one amongst the first few with such meritorious super specialization in Pediatric Nephrology. He chose to return to India after extensive overseas training to serve his own country. He is a founder member of the Vandana Bagai Charitable Foundation, through this foundation; he contributes a great deal to the poorer section of the society. He has adopted many poor orphan children for their comprehensive upbringing. He conducts training programmes & lectures to impart knowledge all over India & Overseas. He was one of the pioneers in the formation of the world class Paediatric Nephrology & Dialysis programmes in Delhi; while also being the founder member of the Vandana Bagai Charitable Foundation which altruistically tenders a great deal to the deprived sections of society. He has a great interest in teaching & has taught students in St. Xavier’s College (Bombay), New South Wales University w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
33
COVER STORY
(Australia), & many hospitals all over the world. He was on the Executive Boards of Indian Association of Pediatrics from 1996-1998 & Indian Nephrology Society from 2004 – 2006. He lectures extensively in various International & National Conferences to impart knowledge to students. He has to his credit more than 450 major lectures, at various National & International Forums including annual conventions of the Indian Medical Association & Delhi Medical Association. He was awarded the prestigious “Dr. Malik Oration Award of IMA” & the “Dr. Pal Oration Award of IMA”. He is at present the Scientific Editor & Chief of Indian Medical Association, contributing to ignite the passion of learning amongst all fields of doctors. He is Editor & Chief of the International Pediatric Nephrology Journal to spread knowledge to the younger generation. His academic brilliance won him “Distinction awards” in Anatomy, Biochemistry, and a “Gold Medal” in Preventive Medicine in 1984 & 1987. He was awarded the “Best Internaward” & the “Best All round Student Award” in his college. His all round brilliance won him the prestigious “Bombay University Merit Scholarship” & “The Sir Dorab Tata Merit Scholarship” in 1982. His research interest won him the “Sarla VaishnavResearch Award” in 1998. He was chosen on the “Directory of Asian / American Who’s Who” in 1999, & the “International Directory of Distinguished Leadership (USA)” in 1995. He was awarded the prestigious “Award of the Millennium” for year 2000. He is also the recipient of the “Bharat Jyoti Award of Excellence” in 2003, “Vijay Shree Award” in 2006, “Leading Citizen of India Award” in 2004 & “Delhi Association of Doctors – Excellence Award” in 2005. He is the recipient of many other awards including the “Pravasi Ratan Award”, “Gold Medal in 2008 from ABI”, USA amongst others. He has also been the recipient of the “Fellowship of International Medical Science Academy 2006”, & has received the most coveted “Indian Medical Association Oration Awards” in 2007 & 2008. He was also awarded the “Indian Medical Association Exemplary Award” in 2006, “Distinguished Service Award” in 2007, “Life time Achievement Award of Indian Medical Association” in 2008. He was chosen to be amongst the few selected ‘Best global talent’ of Oxford University & ABI & was also awarded the famous ‘Hall of Fame distinction’ of ABI in 2009. He was also awarded the coveted “Highest Distinction Award in the field of Medicine” by American Bibliography Institution in 2009. He has a series of publications in National & International Medical peer reviewed & indexed journals. His sharp & analytical mind has helped numerous research protocols being developed and is on the expert research committees of various such associations. He has to his credit in excess of 75 publications of repute. He has very clearly emerged as an iconic figure in healthcare being revered for his vast expensive knowledge & excellent clinical & teaching skills. Dr. Sanjeev Bagai’s expertise is utilized by many High Commissions & Embassies as a Senior Consultant. He is a member of many associations including International Pediatric 34
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
Nephrology Association, Indian Medical Association, Delhi Medical Association, Delhi Medical Council, Indian Academy of Pediatrics, Delhi Nephrology Society, National Neonatal Academy, NSW Australian Medical Board amongst others. A born sportsman, he excels in Cricket, Football, and Hockey & Athletics. He was the school & college captain in Cricket & was facilitated for exceptional sporting achievements in his college as the most outstanding Cricketer & Sportsman of the last century. Winner of numerous National Tournaments from 1980-1991, he epitomizes the concept of sports in building a man’s characters. Being a good writer, he has contributed to the print & electronic media with more than 7000 articles and press coverages in the last 15 years. He has a natural & special talent of communicating with large audiences, which has helped a global audience to understand disease profiles for preventing illnesses in numerous electronic Television Channels. Dr. Bagai is now at a stage in which he wants to contribute and give back to the society which has supported him all these years. In this regard, he has canalized his energies to establish the first specialty pediatric hospital of its kind in India. His facility which is his dream & passion would provide World class cutting edge infrastructure & technology under one roof to treat sick children. This referral center would serve children with acute & chronic diseases across India & the globe. This World class specialty hospital would bring mortality in pediatric illnesses down markedly. Its certain that this endeavor would be a success story in the archives of pediatric medicine. He belongs to rare breed of exceptional & visionary talent. Dr. Bagai was appositely conferred with the prestigious “Padma Shree Award” by the Former President of India, Shri A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2006 and awarded the valued Dr.B. C. Roy National Award by the Hon. President of India Shrimati Pratibha Patil in 2008. Dr. Bagai’s acclamatory work has uniformly assembled a plethora of appreciation and acknowledgment throughout his illustrious tenure. He has imparted more than 850 major lectures & Oration for students at the Indian Medical Association & Delhi Medical Association Conventions. His extensive lectures are renowned for installing the passion of learning amongst all fields of doctors. Dr. Bagai also evidently exhibits one of the most illustrious alumni as he graduated from the celebrated St. Xavier College, Bombay. His philanthropic endeavours include the rare surgeries on the famous Con Joint Twins- Sita & Gita, one of only 3 successful near impossible complex surgeries in India & the reconstructive Facial reconstructive surgeries on the Acid attack girl. These path breaking emulate worthy work is deeply connected to his compassion, empathy, benevolence & loyalty to his Medical Profession. He has an unblemished highly decorated career as an epitome to progress, in true service to humanity. He has launched an unprecedented national campaign for Dengue awareness. For him, ia patient isn’t just a statistical bed number or an organ disease, but a soul reaching out to him, for care, compassion, empathy, which he provides to one and all. Health care is a mission to him, not just a profession.
COVER STORY
The Dynamic Leader in Nephrology & Administrator Dr. Devinder Singh Rana, Chairman, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, an eminent nephrologist of international repute, has been lauded for his outstanding contribution in the field of medicine especially Nephrology world over. Born in Dasmal, a remote village in Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh, he got educated in a village school and went onto pursue an MBBS degree from the Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla with scholarships and distinctions. He obtained an MD (Medicine) (1976) from PGIMER, Chandigarh and MNAMS (Nephrology) (1980) from AIIMS, New Delhi. The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio, USA awarded him an international scholarship in renal transplantation (1986).
Dr. D.S. Rana
Chairman, Board of Management, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital
36
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
Dr. Rana joined Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in 1981 and established Nephrology, Dialysis and Kidney Transplant Services in India’s nongovernment sector. He innovated the techniques of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Understanding the importance of vascular access for chronic hemodialysis, he performed shunt procedures himself to become the first nephrologist in India to do so. His contributions towards nephrology, dialysis and kidney transplantation led him to be the President and Secretary of the Indian Society of Nephrology. He represented India at various national and international committees which expedited his growth in Nephrology. Dr. Rana was a member on the Commission of Global Advancements in Nephrology, an initiative of the international society of Nephrology. He founded the Indian Society of Hemodialysis (2002) to standardize the procedure of hemodialysis. Recognising his excellence Sir Ganga Ram Trust Society appointed him as Chairman of Board of Management in May 2011 onwards. His passion for academics and research, led him to establish the Ganga Ram Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research. He has received Dr. B.C. Roy National Award in 2017 and Padma Shri Award in 2009 by the Hon’ble President of India for his immense contribution in his field. His services in promoting medical education, led him to be awarded the Tridecennial NBE Medical Teacher of Excellence Award (2012) and the Best DNB Teaching Hospital award (2014) by the National Board of Examinations. His passion remains making affordable, quality medical care accessible to rural population. His NGO, Parvati Education & Health Society for rural India (2005) established Parvati Charitable Hospital (2007) in Dasmal wherein for the first time a standalone hemodialysis unit was established at nominal cost to patients in remote hilly areas. The Government of Himachal Pradesh honored him with the Himachal Gaurav award (2015). Dr. Rana is a member of the governing body of AIIMS, New Delhi, and Armed forces Medical research committee. He was member of the Medical Council of India, Governing Council of SGPGIMS, Lucknow; Governing Council of Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital Society, Delhi; Member of Curriculum Committee of Postdoctoral Certificate Course in Dialysis Medicine, and Armed Forces Medical Research Committee. The Indian Medical Association has conferred him with various awards and honours, Son of Soil Award (2007), National Award (2006), DMA Distinguished Service Award (2008); Vishisht Chikitsa Ratan ( 2012) and Distinguished Services Award (2011). The Indian Society of Nephrology conferred on him the Fellowship of Indian Society of Nephrology. The Delhi Nephrology Society conferred Guru Dronacharya award on him over his lifetime contribution to renal science education and promotion.
COVER STORY
About Sir Ganga Ram Hospital
Sir Ganga Ram, an engineer by profession and great philanthropist of his times established Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, a small maternity hospital in 1921 at Lahore. Later, after his death in 1927, Sir Ganga Ram Trust Society constructed 800-bedded hospital in the heart of Lahore, which is still known by the same name and is amongst the popular teaching hospitals in Pakistan. After partition, Sir Ganga Ram Trust Society started present hospital in New Delhi in April 1954, which was inaugurated by Late Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India. Over last five decades, hospital has witnessed phenomenal growth. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital is well known name both nationally and internationally for providing an excellent and ethical healthcare. In addition, the hospital has acquired eminent position even in the field of medical education & research. The management model of the hospital is also a unique concept. The hospital is managed by Board of Management consisting of honorary eminent, loyal and committed doctors who have contributed significantly towards the growth and image of the hospital. The Board of Management works under the guidelines laid down by Sir Ganga Ram Trust Society to carry the legacy of charity of our Founder Late Sir Ganga Ram. Sir Ganga Ram Trust Society & Board of Management are strongly committed to provide quality and ethical healthcare at affordable cost to all sections of the society with “Patient First Policy”. Today, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital is a multi-speciality 675-bedded hospital and in addition, hospital has got two more affiliated hospitals in the close vicinity adding 180 more beds to meet the constant shortage of beds. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital is a well-known hospital for adhering to ethical medical services backed by latest technology and services of eminent consultants. The hospital is recognized for its excellence by various accreditation bodies in healthcare.
Our hospital is indeed a unique prototype of being a “People’s Own Hospital”, where economically stronger patients compensates the treatment of patients from economically weaker section of the society. The hospital runs daily free OPDs in the morning hours in all specialities, where apart from free consultations; investigations are offered at highly subsidized rates to all patients. In addition, patients belonging to economically weaker section are entitled for free investigations and free drugs. 20% of indoor beds are reserved for providing free medical care including all surgeries to deserving patients. 25% of total beds are reserved for patients who pay just the cost price of the treatment, 25 % of beds for those who pay 20% higher than the cost price, 30% beds for patients those who pay 100% above the cost price. Above all, the free emergency services are provided round the clock. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital is always on the forefront for acquiring latest medical technology for providing cutting edge medical care. The management of the hospital is also alive to the dynamic needs of the society. The pivotal component towards providing an excellent healthcare service is manpower. We provide proper ambience and environment for the growth of our employees both medical and para-medical. Our hospital is utmost employee-friendly institute, where we take care of employees’ welfare. As a result, attrition rate is very low. While preparing the budget of the hospital, adequate attention is given on affordability of patients. Nominal surplus generated is ploughed back to acquire latest technology, improving and enhancing infrastructure facilities to meet the dynamic needs of the society. We firmly believe that medical education and research are integral components of any good tertiary care hospital to provide quality healthcare with updated knowledge and to create medical manpower, which is need of the hour in our country. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital is recognized by National Board of Examinations for carrying out postgraduate medical education in 42 disciplines, which is the largest in the country. The hospital is actively involved both in clinical and basic research and adequate funds are allocated in research activities.
w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
37
COVER STORY
Disruption is unbiased, Neutral
India Virtual Hospital is bringing in disruption through Trust Doc, India’s 1stTechnology-driven, Specialised Treatment Opinion platform where you get consultations from only Government-Retired Super-Specialists (Ex-AIIMS, PGI etc.) Swadeep Srivastava
Swadeep Srivastava,
Founding Managing Partner & Chief Belief Officer, India Virtual Hospital: pioneer in Domestic Medical Travel space through their start-up www.indiavirtualhospital.com, who are creating a disruption by organizing the ‘domestic patient referral process’
Disruption is the new normal. Consider the passengers who hire a cab from their place of convenience; housewives purchasing household goods without venturing out of their homes, and students getting top-class coaching at their study-tables at home — all these (and more) have been made possible by Disruption — Disruption of the modes of transacting which have been in vogue till now. Indeed, Disruption is a new revolution and a great new leveller. We, at India Virtual Hospital (IVH), are also ushering in a revolution in the healthcare segment through Disruption. IVH is doing this by positioning itself as an ‘unbiased, neutral platform’ to help patients select their doctors and hospitals of choice. From among the innumerable choices of doctors and hospitals out there in the marketplace, IVH with it specific understanding of the needs of patients, combined with the knowledge of where/ by who to get them treated, is able to put the patients through to the right choice of doctors and hospitals. As the first step, IVH is bringing in Disruption through Trust Doc, India’s 1sttechnology-driven, Specialised Treatment Opinion platform by Industry Veterans like Government-Retired Super-Specialists (Ex-AIIMS, PGI etc.). TrustDoc.in aims to provide patients with 38
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
an expert opinion by very senior retired specialist doctors who have served in the best government hospitals across India. Today Trust Doc has India’s 100+ government-retired senior doctors and specialists covering over 20+ specialities. All one has to do is get in touch with us by either calling at 9999-668-222 or sms trustdoc to 56677 or register at easy-to-navigate online portal, trustdoc. in or mailing us at contact@trustdoc. in. When a patient isrecommended for a surgical procedure or operation and that too critical in nature, such as OrganTransplant, Oncology Surgery, Bypass etc., the patient and the family members are surrounded by number of questions on thediagnosis, the treatment line, its pros & cons, recovery chances and similar queries. Trust Doc addresses all these queries by taking opinions from the pool of veteran doctors. Making the best use of technology, the whole process of Trust Doc is tech-driven, thereby removing the hassles of patients who otherwise needs to travel to a bigger city to take an opinion from a senior doctor. We hope to touch many lives through this convenient service and strive to provide patients and their families with an expert medical opinion from the best healthcare specialists of the country. In another important Disruptive move, IVH has also introduced its Patient Care App, an integrated tertiary care ecosystem that supports and helps patients for their treatment, away from home with the help ofexperienced doctors, healthcare professionals, patient guides on board. It helps the patient in decision making regarding selection of doctors, hospitals & entire treatment module within their budget. The App gives the day to day status of the patient to their relatives. It also helps to connect with our Hospital Companion that hand holds the patient throughout their treatment journey, starting from appointment of hospitals up to recovery follow up assistance.It
also provides cash-back and discounts to the patients. This App can be downloaded from Google Play Store. The overall effect of this Disruption move by IVH is to boldly reorganise and bring in Tech-enabled solutions along with Personal Care for the Domestic Medical Travel market, where nothing has been done in an organised manner in India till now though it holds enormous business potential —this market is estimated in few thousand crores. When implemented in totality, the IVH Disruption will revamp the ‘Healthcare Delivery Process’ and bring in better price competitiveness, value for money for patients/their family, greater transparency for patients, speed up the patient referral process and help reduce the sufferings of patients on account of unwanted medical/diagnostic tests as well as making unnecessary doctor visits redundant, thus saving patients’ precious time and helping them make the right choice in the right time. The writer is Managing Partner, IndiaVirtualHospital.com
COVER STORY
Patient Safety Paramount On the occasion of World Patient Safety Day, let us revisit the doctor’s Oath –‘first, do no harm’ - which accords top priority to patient safety in the current healthcare ecosystem.
Dr. Mradul Kaushik,
Director, Operations & Planning, BLK Super Speciality Hospital The Indian Healthcare is at the cusp of transformation. While it is competing with the best in the world to provide quality medicare, it also has to address the realities that are unique to India. Nothing is more fundamental to healthcare than the safety of patients. It is a matter that deserves no compromise and therefore it must remain uppermost on the minds of hospital management as well as doctors across the country. The patient safety day is an occasion to reinforce this. Patient safety is defined as freedom for a patient from unnecessary harm or potential harm associated with the provision of healthcare. Ensuring the safety of patients is a high visibility issue for health institutions. Services that are unsafe and of low quality lead to compromised health outcomes and may even be harmful. As far as harm is concerned, our ancient ancestors accorded the highest priority to patient safety. That is why, while becoming a doctor, we take the Oath and one of the promises within that oath is “first, do no harm” (or “primum non nocere,” the Latin translation from the original Greek.) “I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous.”
So right from the ancient period to present day, patient safety should be a prime concern for every healthcare institution. Patient safety includes safety at each step in the hospital including but not limited to Patient Identification, Surgical Safety, medication and blood safety, medical device safety, safe organ tissue transplantation and donation. It is also about bio-medical waste management, prevention of healthcare associated infections and much more. Healthcare systems aim at providing Safer, Better, Faster and Affordable services to the patients. These objectives would not be achieved if health institutions fail to deliver safe care due to unsafe clinical practices, systems, tools and processes. Safety of medication needs adequate attention. This would be possible by developing safer drugs. Advancement in pharmacology has also added new dimensions to the patient safety. The use of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data in the assessment of drug safety in early drug development has transformed the way we look at drug therapy. According to British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, in order to reduce the cost of overall drug development it is essential that resources be focused on those compounds most likely to succeed. The utility of pharmacokinetic predictions (or at least estimations) in the drug discovery phase has resulted in fewer compounds failing as a result of inappropriate clinical pharmacokinetics. This application of pharmacokinetic prediction is now being extended to the pharmacodynamics of novel compounds in order to gain better understanding of their efficacy and safety profiles. With availability of safe and affordable drugs, we also need to prioritize safe administration of drugs. For this all health institutions should maintain right documentation, research and highly trained healthcare personnel. Health institutions need to follow standardized measures for procedural safety by putting and adhering to checklists like aviation industry. Such measures, certainly enhances procedural safety. Further, hospital acquired infections and healthcare infused infections are major safety concerns. Every healthcare organization should have protocols and policies need in place for prevention from these infections. Hand washing, use of sterilized devices play a critical role here.
Identifying vulnerable patients for precaution is yet another challenge which needs to be addressed with proper care and attention. Technology is making healthcare safer, better, faster and affordable and has come as a big support in achieving the goals of healthcare. From Quantum computing, Internet of Things (IoT) to 3D imaging, a transformation is taking place rapidly which would lead us to a higher stage of advancement in patient safety. For example, advancements in diagnostic imaging – digital detectors and softwares – has completely replaced investigative surgery and reduced radiation dose for various procedures by up to 75 percent. Earlier clinicians used to do surgery, just to have a look at the insides of the body, and to ascertain the cause of the problem. In preceding years, such practice has been replaced with new age 3 D Imaging for Cardio tests and advanced imaging for MRIs, Ultrasounds and CT Scans. In contemporary times, with the help of digitization and new age post processing techniques the images taken from the scans look exactly the same as the insides of the body during operation. Apart from accuracy in surgeries, technology also helps in monitoring progression of a condition of the patient post-surgery. The World Health Organization’s objectives in the area of patient safety are to provide global leadership for patient safety and to harness knowledge, expertise and innovation to improve patient safety in health care settings. Health institutions need to adopt best practices in quality. Appropriate documentations, facility safety, policies and SOPs as per the standards need implementation on ground. Patient safety goals can be achieved by identifying the patient correctly, improving effective communication, improving safety of high alert medication, ensuring safe surgery, reducing the risk of healthcare associated infections and reducing the risk of patient harm resulting from falls. While the Central government has come up with a draft framework aimed at ensuring patient safety while undergoing any medical intervention, much would depend upon initiatives and innovations being introduced by health institutions in the country. Healthcare institutions should aim to create patient centric set ups where quality and technology should play a critical role for effective patient safety w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
39
EXPERT VIEWS
FADING AWAY
REFERRAL COMMISSIONS India’s medical tourism market is expected to more than double in size from USD 3 billion at present to around USD 8 billion by 2020. India is increasingly seen as the favoured destination of “medical tourists” who cross national boundaries to seek treatment in India.To maintain the quality treatment and sustain the name of India as favorite country -Definitely its matter of thinking.
M.S. Guru Prasad General Manager International Marketing, Narayana Health, Bangalore, India 40
www.m e d e g a t e t o d a y. co m Dec 2017
EXPERT VIEWS
C
ommission /Referral payments for medical tourism referrals is a trend that is fading away, worldwide. The practice of paying commissions is rapidly transitioning to contracts that require medical tourism facilitators and referral agencies to instead charge clients for the value they add and the actual services they provide. Healthcare facilities and providers have discovered that paying 20-30% of the package price and/or any add on services is too costly for the value they receive from the agency. Patients are also becoming more aware that the prices they are quoted may include the mark up to cover the commission, so they attempt to contact providers directly and circumvent the agency and its mark up. Some of the inexperienced facilitators risk creating unrealistic expectations or making promises to the patients that providers cannot deliver. Some facilitators send cases that should never be referred or lack proper planning and workup that can endanger the patient life and also the hospital’s brand which is out of ignorance. Rarely do these startup "digital marketing and website businesses" have professional liability to indemnify the brand and hold it harmless for any damages they might cause. Most of the medical tourism facilitators lack academic qualification or professional training or familiarity with
the procedures they refer but expect to be paid a 20-30% commission for providing an introductory appointment to the provider. They may have never visited the destination and sell it blindly after having only sent an email to the hospitals to secure a representative agency agreement. Many facilitators also direct the patients that the providers will arrange the arrival coordination, ground transfers, hotel accommodation and departure co-ordination. They also guide the patient to make their own travel reservations as most are not accredited and credentialed sellers of travel and cannot gain commissions on airline tickets and hotel reservations. These overseas agents also coordinate tour packages in the destination country that are inappropriate for the patients because they are unaware of the physical limitations and medical restrictions - leading to even more disappointment. Existing commission model leads to medical tourism providers being treated as a commodity. Referrals are often steered to the highest bidder instead of the most appropriate provider to meet the needs of the patient. The solution for the same is to make the provider’s service accessible to overseas patients through all possible digital mode and make it more interactive through telephone or video conference. The services are to be 24x 7 as the countries time zones vary from each other.
w w w.medegatetoday.com Dec 2017
41
THE FUTURE OF LABORATORY INDUSTRY THE MOST DEFINITIVE EVENT FOR LABORATORY INDUSTRY
2018
14 - 16 DECEMBER 2018 ROSE GARDEN HOTEL YANGON, MYANMAR
Gathering the region's hospital, Diagnostic, Laboratory, Analytical, Biotechnology and Scientific Instruments & Technology sectors in one convenient location and providing the perfect platform to discover the latest industry innovations, to network and do business.
MYANMAR LAB EXPO 2018 100+
EXHIBITORS
15+
COUNTRIES
Showcase your products to 3,000 visitors Meet buyers from local to global THE MOST POWERFUL ANNUAL SHOW FOR THE REGIONAL LABORATORY & ANALYTICAL INDUSTRY
YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO MEET "INSTRUMENTATION MANAGEMENT & PERSONNEL"
Brings results Achieves success
• Business Matching between the Suppliers and Distributors • Professional Conference / Seminar
Develops business Creates knowledge
Act quick and reserve your space now! Premium locations are first come, first served.
For more information: VEAS CO., LTD info@veas.com.vn
1800 1082 www.lab-exhibition.com ORGANIZER & SUPPORTER
MEDIA SPONSORS
Free Hotline
MEET YOUR CUSTOMERS • AGRICULTURE • BIOTECHNOLOGY & LIFE SCIENCES • CHEMICALS & REAGENTS • CHEMICAL ENGINEERING • DRUG DISCOVERY & DEVELOPMENT • ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT • FOOD TESTING & DIAGNOSTICS • INSTRUMENTATION • LABORATORY TECHNOLOGY • MATERIAL TESTING • MEASUREMENT & TESTING • NANOTECHNOLOGY • PETROCHEMICALS • PROCESS CONTROL • QUALITY CONTROL • RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
THE 6TH MYANMAR PHAR-MED 2018
14-16
December
2018
ROSE GARDEN HOTEL, YANGON, MYANMAR
TOGETHER AT THE NO.1 EXHIBITION FOR PHARMACEUTICAL & MEDICAL, DENTAL, LABORATORY & HEALTHCARE SERVICES IN MYANMAR SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
Exhibition floor space: 2,000m2 Number of exhibitors: 100+ Exhibiting countries: 15+ Number of visitors: 3,000+ B2B MATCHMAKING PROGRAM
PROFESSIONAL SEMINAR
www.pharmed-expo.com
2018
IN CONJUNCTION WITH LAB & DENTAL EXPO TOGETHER AS A BIGGEST EVENT FOR HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY IN MYANMAR
AREA OF BUSINESS
34% Dealers & Distributors 26% Hospitals
2018
MEET YOUR CUSTOMER • Health Ministry Officials • Supplier • Trades & Distributor • Manufacturer
18% Government
• Hospital Managers & Employees
13% Manufacturers
• Medical Students
9% Others
• Doctors (Surgeries & Hospital) • Biologists, Biochemists, Technicians
Join us NOW to be a part of Business Matching Program, be connected to Local Distributors / Dealers in Healthcare Industry.
• Rehabilitation Organizations,
For more information: VEAS CO., LTD
• Academic Institute
1800 1082
info@veas.com.vn
ORGANIZER
SUPPORTERS
Nursing Homes
Free Hotline
MEDIA SPONSORS
CO-ORGANIZER
IN CONJUNCTION WITH 2018 CAMBODIA
THE FUTURE OF LABORATORY INDUSTRY THE MOST DEFINITIVE EVENT FOR LABORATORY INDUSTRY
2018 CAMBODIA
05 - 07 September 2018
DIAMOND ISLAND CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTER, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
Gathering the region's hospital, Diagnostic, Laboratory, Analytical, Biotechnology and Scientific Instruments & Technology sectors in one convenient location and providing the perfect platform to discover the latest industry innovations, to network and do business.
CAMBODIA LAB EXPO 2018 80+
EXHIBITORS
10+
COUNTRIES
Showcase your products to 2.500 visitors Meet buyers from local to global THE MOST POWERFUL ANNUAL SHOW FOR THE REGIONAL LABORATORY & ANALYTICAL INDUSTRY
YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO MEET "INSTRUMENTATION MANAGEMENT & PERSONNEL"
Brings results Achieves success
• Business Matching between the Suppliers and Distributors • Professional Conference / Seminar
Develops business Creates knowledge
Act quick and reserve your space now! Premium locations are first come, first served.
For more information: VEAS CO., LTD info@veas.com.vn
1800 1082 www.lab-exhibition.com ORGANIZER & SUPPORTER
MEDIA SPONSORS
Free Hotline
MEET YOUR CUSTOMERS • AGRICULTURE • BIOTECHNOLOGY & LIFE SCIENCES • CHEMICALS & REAGENTS • CHEMICAL ENGINEERING • DRUG DISCOVERY & DEVELOPMENT • ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT • FOOD TESTING & DIAGNOSTICS • INSTRUMENTATION • LABORATORY TECHNOLOGY • MATERIAL TESTING • MEASUREMENT & TESTING • NANOTECHNOLOGY • PETROCHEMICALS • PROCESS CONTROL • QUALITY CONTROL • RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
RNI No. DELENG/2010/33833