KMC alumni conclave debates health care schemes

Manipal: Department of Hospital Administration at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, conducted a conclave for CEOs on “Emerging Trends in Hospital Administration” during 3^rd Manipal Global Alumni Convention held here recently. Twenty CEOs and COOs of private hospitals from India and abroad, many of them MAHE alumni, attended the conclave held on December 15, 2018. An Alumni Directory of the Department of Hospital Administration, KMC was also unveiled on the occasion.

Dr. Nagendraswamy, Advisor, Manipal Health Enterprises, and Chairman, Medisync spoke about the universal health coverage scheme, Ayushman Bharat, and highlighted its unique features. “While it opens doors for many needy patients and provides new opportunities for healthcare delivery system in the country, the prices presently offered are posing challenges to private hospitals in providing quality service and for the financial viability of the procedures. If this gets corrected, many more hospitals are likely to participate in the scheme,” he said.

Dr. Narendranath, Chief Administrator, MS Ramaiah Hospital, Bangalore stated that though government hospitals are improving through different schemes, private hospitals are being chosen for super speciality care services. And, private medical college hospitals were receiving more of cancer care cases. “Government hospitals need to do even better,” he said.

Dr. Alex Kuruvilla, Chief Strategic Officer of Practo Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore cautioned hospitals from implementing any health care scheme without going into the fine prints. He said, “There will always be many loopholes in the new schemes which can be exploited. So, they need to be plugged by the administrators before implementation.” He was speaking from his experiences during the implementation of Yeshaswini Health Scheme.

Dr. Rahul Menon, CEO of MGM Healthcare Chennai, shared use of technology in monitoring the schemes in hospitals. “Commissioning technologically advanced hospitals will support the state administration in implementing the schemes,” he said.

Dr. Rajendra Patankar, COO, Nanavati Hospitals, Mumbai, added to that input stating, “Technology can be used to digitize prescriptions, and rationalize the drug usage. All hospitals should get connected and the patient should be able to access his previous medical records at all hospitals that he or she visits,”.

Dr. Sandeep D’Souza, Medical Director of Al Hayat International Hospital, Muscat, Oman spoke about the administrative aspects of healthcare in the Middle East. “The hospitals in India should play a bigger role by connecting health records with each other and in reaching out to the public through government schemes”.

The Head of the Department of Hospital Administration Dr. Naveen Kumar, in his concluding remarks, said, “If private hospitals get funded by public financial institutions which additionally require securities or mortgages and by private investors, it will have an impact on the pricing of healthcare services to end user. “If the governments can provide loans to private hospitals at competitive interest rates, it will definitely ease the burden on the financing of large and medium private hospitals,” he added.