We plan to include value added services and free treatments for the extreme bottom of the pyramid patients with the help of IT innovation, cutting edge technology says Dr Akil Khan, Vice Chairman, Enso Care.

Please share your views on the healthcare delivery ecosystem in India?

In India, one of the most unregulated environments is healthcare. And when one overviews the model of delivery in the country, it shows heavy dependence on government hospitals. The top private and charitable hospitals today only contribute 10 per cent, and almost 90 per cent of the healthcare needs are catered by government hospitals. The delivery mismatch is primarily due to lack of an organised environment available in the government healthcare facilities. We believe that the economics of volume and scale is no different to the healthcare industry which is being seen as the sunrise sector in India. Healthcare business has evolved over the last decade with world class hospital infrastructure with modern amenities being the norm of the day catering to the affluent. Corporate chains have set up the benchmark with quality healthcare delivery systems all across tier-I cities in India but none catering to the rural centers. The business of diagnostics has also seen private giants organizing the pathology services on a national and international level within the urban centers. The irony of the situation is that all these respectable conglomerates cater to 5-10 % percentage of a 1.24 billion population in India.

What made Ensocare venture into Healthcare in India?

We decided to enter into this PPP to create a meaningful impact on overall Indian society. We have chalked out plans of investments of US$ 50 million with an appetite for more projects with various other state governments too. Currently we have won tenders for Maharashtra and Punjab governments for diagnostics facilities in 43 civil hospitals, 22 in Maharashtra and 21 in Punjab. GE is a renowned OEM and we are proud of our association with them. We plan to include value added services and free treatments for the extreme bottom of the pyramid patients with the help of IT innovation, cutting edge technology and well-trained medical staff. We are currently investing time in building our management bandwidth and operational capabilities to ute the job at hand as quickly as possible.

Tell us more about the PPP with Government of Maharashtra?

Currently, 38 district and other large hospitals under Government of Maharashtra cater to about 100 million people. It is estimated that in a year, these 38 hospitals would be referring over 100,000 CT scans, 50,000 MRIs, 300,000 color Doppler studies, 900,000 x-rays and 40,000 mammography examinations required for early detection and treatment of diseases. However, in the absence of quality diagnostic imaging infrastructure, these studies are quite often referred to private centres which substantially increases the cost of treatment.

The PPP agreement with Government of Maharashtra is the largest in terms of scale. Public Health Department, Government of Maharashtra has signed this INR 150 Crores PPP project to advance healthcare in the State of Maharashtra. The package includes installation of 4 units of 64 slice CT scanners, 13 units of advance 16 slice CT scanners, 8 units of cutting edge 1.5T Magnetic Resonance Imaging with 16 channels, 22 high end digital radiography systems, 39 color Dopplers and 39 analog x-ray units. Womens health is given a special boost with the inclusion of 20 screening mammography units for early breast cancer detection. The financial investment of 150 crore as part of the consortium with leading healthcare companies and will together set up advanced diagnostic facilities at 22 Government district and women hospitals, run operations on 24/7 hour basis and provide services at Government recommended rate cards for the benefit of larger population.

What are the advantages of PPP model in healthcare for government?

This unique opportunity as provided by this PPP will change the dynamics of Healthcare in India, with the largely divided middle class and the underprivileged getting diagnostic services to begin with, at zero cost or at heavily subsidized costs and also getting global standards both in equipment quality on Wipro GE equipments and international delivery with Ensocare. I congratulate the mammoth efforts of Maharashtra government and their efforts will surely make a difference to 100 million hearts in the state. Plans for any other states apart from Maharashtra are Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh among others. Apart from diagnostics we also are looking out for partnerships in fields of pathology, tele-model and general practitioner model in India.

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