Healthcare industry in India is
undergoing a transformation. From being a typical doctor-driven model, the
entire industry is undergoing a transformation to become an institution which
delivers with care. ‘Customer centricity’
is no more just a word of an internal market. It has started branching out in
the need-based models as well.
There have been many hospitals
which have identified & adopted the need of the hour and paying attention
& extra care to the high-paying customers; but they seldom do it for the
mid and lower mid strata that avail services. India being 70% at the bottom of
the pyramid, word of mouth of a bad service is just a blink of the eye away.
The perceived ‘inaccessibility of medical
services’ is becoming a distant reality.
This being the scenario, the who
focus of the industry has shifted towards delivering seamless services under
one roof and hence retain the
customers. From a management perspective, this means repeated business and
probably an extended business at times where a relative comes over as well. But
with every brand getting into being a multi-specialty
unit, there is immense pressure on the people involved in the system to do it right.
Till date, the hospitals have
been a basic necessity of mankind and hence there are funds allocated in the
budget in the name of social welfare allocated to healthcare. The scenario has
now changed with private players parking their presence in the sector. Especially
in tier 1 cities, the focus on customer centricity has been really high to an
extent where MIS parameters have now been defined to calculate ‘conversion’ (typically - how many
actually took the procedure with the hospitals and how many went out…).
If we dig deep into it, everyone
understands the fact that there is big money involved in the healthcare sector.
The brands which have been existent since sometime now are seeking the help of
private investors for expansion. The typical ‘Eskimo hunters’ are now creeping into the healthcare sector. This
means, they need more means of giving
awareness to the otherwise healthy community to indicate preventions. To
put it in plain text - ‘we need more
footfalls’ is the management motto.
There is a sad side to it as well…
It is leading to a lot of ethical issues as the doctors are turning to be Eskimo
hunters as they are given targets! Are
we trying to cure ailments or create scare? Only time will answer it…
Though the interest of private
investors is helping the sector to institutionalize, I feel there needs to be a
broader thought of contribution from policies, ethics and professionalism which
will help to drive it in the right way. Else, we may end up doing what we did
back in the 1960s in the name of industrialization
(cut all those bloody trees…)!
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