Efficient Health care Facilities – The need of the hour

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Health care is the basic need of every citizen of our country which can be achieved from hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, medical camps etc. India has a huge and growing population. The existing infrastructure in India is just not sufficient to cater to the growing demand. It is saddening to know the ratio of India’s rapidly growing population to the number of hospitals & hospital beds. As per The Association of Health care Providers (India), India has mere 0.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

The World Health Statistics mentions that India ranks among the lowest in this regard globally, far below the global average of 2.9 beds. This highlights the urgent need for constructing more hospitals at a rapid pace. Simply building bigger hospitals & increasing the number of beds to match the ratio with the Indian population is not a solution, as it is not only the infrastructure that is required. Requirement is of a better hospital which offers quality Health care at affordable cost. Patient traffic in the hospital depends on the quality of Health care offered. As per the India Brand Equity Foundation – The hospital industry in India stood at Rs 4 trillion (US$ 61.79 billion) in FY17 and is expected to reach Rs 8.6 trillion (US$ 132.84 billion) by FY22.

There are several attributes in making a hospital better & efficient. Some of the attributes are the location of the hospital, facilities offered, infrastructure, etc. A single factor cannot attribute in making the hospital better. In accordance to this, Dr. Vinod Singh, Founder & Consultant Hospitech Health care consultancy states, “A better hospital is not the one which looks good, nor the one which makes good revenue, nor the one which provides quality services, nor the one which gets completed in record time period; but, the one which is a combination of all the above factors. A hospital has to be better from a number of factors such as Financial, Functional design, Quality accreditation & Operational factors.”

Technology is another crucial component of competition in the hospital market. Technology plays a major role in making the hospital better. The hospital needs to be technologically equipped as technology helps in delivering a promising cure and efficient diagnostic procedures. There is a rapid increase in utilization of new technologies in hospitals supporting this Manish Kamdar, Esperti Services & Solutions LLP adds, “Technology in the present days is a game changer. Health care has seen advancements in different areas which have led to the longevity of human life and also improvement in the quality of life.” Talking about utilization of newer technologies in hospitals, Mr. Vishwanth Eadulapally, Head – Biomedical Department, Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre adds, “I have always looked for newer technologies that are efficient, safe to use and compact.”

Technology has gained importance in Health care organizations as it intensifies the accuracy percentile of surgery, operation process & administration of medicine. To this Manish Kamdar, Esperti Services & Solutions LLP mentions, “We should do away with human dependence for accuracy and move to systems that automate monitoring the administration of medication.” New technologies in hospitals have become more multi-purpose job. It has been applied to different applications with a new approachable way. Influence of technology in hospitals offers a new progress in the medical industry.

Setting up of a better hospital encompassing all the needs for a resourceful & well-organized Health care centre is a tough task; as it is also the needs of the client which has to be identified & timely access to the right information has to be provided. Dr. Vinod Singh, Founder & Consultant Hospitech Health care consultancy sharing his experience of more than 15 years in setting up hospitals across the country & abroad states, “As every project brings with it new learning, we try & be flexible with each client on project to project basis so that their experience with us is a happy one. We assist our clients in setting reasonable expectations for smoother completion of projects.”

It is essential to assess the right kind of hospital required for the Indian market. India requires cost-effective services which should benefit the masses and not the classes. Hospital infrastructure should be planned in such a way keeping the initial cost low. Mr. Vishwanth Eadulapally, Head – Biomedical Department, Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre offers a solution in making a hospital cost-effective – “A better hospital need not always be cost intensive. India is a tropical country with plenty of natural resources among which solar energy and wind energy can be effectively used. In my view, any hospital needs to be energy efficient to save on running cost. Government bodies are also encouraging these initiatives by providing funding. Appropriate planning and layout of the hospital saves a lot of operational costs and helps in an efficient workflow.” He furthers adds another solution in reducing the expenses, “Digitization & automation is desirable wherever possible because labor is the single largest expense for a hospital.”

Safety in regard to the oxygen supply to the hospital is another essential aspect to be considered in Health care centres. Several hospitals in India are dependent on either liquid oxygen or cylinders for their oxygen supply. Few cylinders due to high pressure are prone to explosions. Mr. Sanjay Jaiswal MD, Airox Technologies Pvt. Ltd shares solution undertaken by them, “To make hospitals better and safe, we have started giving an effective and innovative alternative for expensive and combustive liquid and cylinder oxygen. As compared to cylinders and liquid oxygen hospitals can save 40 to 50% cost.”

Setting up a good & efficient Health care facility is not the end in itself. We need to opt for solutions that shall be helpful in making the facility efficient. Talking on this Dr. Vinod Singh, Founder & Consultant Hospitech Health care consultancy has expressed an exceptional idea in regards to the latest solution to be adopted in making a hospital efficient, “To make hospitals more efficient especially the existing ones, we advise our clients to undertake market research before devising a marketing strategy and implementation of marketing activities. The Study should include a deep analysis of the factors affecting hospital efficiency and the required changes to improve efficiency.”

It is observed that hospitals that undertake a digital transition further enhance the effectiveness by experiencing all the benefits of Health care technology, trends, and innovation. Embracing digital Health care services helps in enhancing operational efficiency, better patient outcomes, reduced costs, integrated approach to patient care, etc. Commenting on this Mr. Vishwanth Eadulapally, Head – Biomedical Department, Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre states, “Electronic medium is one of the major trends in the modern medical industry. Going paperless is becoming trendsetting in most corporate hospitals. Nowadays most biomedical equipment have incorporated software compatible hardware for ease of communication and to make it possible to plug and play.”

The efficiency of a hospital can further be escalated by reducing the energy cost. There is increasing energy cost in hospitals as Health care facilities are considered to be the second most energy-intensive type of buildings. Ways to reduce energy consumption shall help cut costs and also ease pressure on operating budgets. Speaking in regards to this Dr. Vinod Singh, Founder & Consultant Hospitech Health care consultancy said, “By making use of Building management system software, one can reduce the energy spent in unoccupied areas thereby bringing down operational cost. Temperature & lighting can also be controlled with these technologies.”

In several hospitals it is observed that there is no proper utilization of medical equipment thus, further reducing the efficiency of the hospital. It is seen that medical devices are lying for years together without been used. When such underutilized equipment is later used they incur great maintenance costs. Hence, utilization of medical equipment should not be neglected in Health care organizations. In support of this, Mr. Vishwanth Eadulapally, Head – Biomedical Department, Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre says, “Timely decommissioning of equipment is recommended to avoid the high maintenance costs of old and obsolete equipment. This practice can help control up to 1/3rd of the total maintenance cost of medical equipment.”

While discussing the solutions in making a hospital efficient, Manish Kamdar, Esperti Services & Solutions LLP shared a solution untaken by them in making a hospital efficient, “Many of the procedures at hospitals include administering medication or fluids to patients. To ensure patients get the right dose of IV medications and fluids, we have DripAssist Infusion Rate Monitor. DripAssist is AA-battery operated, works with any IV set, and is easy for any clinician to learn with less than 5 minutes of training.”

Thus the need of the hour is in setting up better, technologically efficient Health care centres so that technologically advanced Health care diagnostic procedures and timely treatment can be offered to the suffering mankind.


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