Q1. Congratulations for an excellent 2019! Please let us know your key achievements in 2019

AMRI Hospitals, one of the largest private healthcare service providers in Eastern India, continued on its path of growth, not just fiscally but also in terms of service, maintaining its excellent record of medical outcomes, as our doctors undertook several exemplary surgeries, curing patients who were written off by others. We also took a right step forward towards a more integrated community medicine service by setting up clinics in the North East, besides in different parts of West Bengal, with plans to develop advanced telemedicine facilities at these places soon. We also introduced a number of advanced technologies and treatment protocols, like O-ARM, endoscopic otology, awake brain surgery, and minimally invasive paediatric cardiac surgery. All these achievements put together led us to retain our place in the Top 2 for two consecutive years by a leading nationwide hospital rankings survey, besides being counted among India’s top 10 hospitals by yet another prestigious survey.

Q2. Please share few disappointments in 2019

While we faced a few disappointments organisationally in 2019, these would only go on to make our resolve stronger and make us strive to fly higher in the New Year. As an organisation, we had planned to go completely paperless and plastic-free by this year. Although we are yet to reach that goal, we are confident being able to touch both these marks within a short span of time. Our focus has been on having a more digitised structure and we hope to reach there soon. Externally, a significant disappointment was the huge backlog of reimbursements we have from a number of PSUs, where patients were treated under various schemes. While this has set us back fiscally, we hope things will be sorted out soon. We believe the Government will do what is best in such a scenario.

Q3. Key Challenges to overcome in 2020

We are looking at a world that is increasingly getting digitised, particularly in terms of managing systems and processes, both administratively and medically. One of the key challenges would be to address these issues of digitisation and to match pace with developments so that we can provide the best treatments and services to our patients. Another major challenge would be to keep providing services to patients under various government schemes as the authorities cap prices of consumables and implants. Organisationally, it often gets difficult to provide these services without affecting our own books and hospitals will only be able to uphold quality if they are able to balance the rising prices of peripherals.

Q4. Way Forward for 2020

The way of the future is digitisation in every aspect of life, not just in hospitals. As we go digital, there has been a noticeable rise in efficiency and drop in human errors. We are looking at investing more into building a proper digital infrastructure because this will not just help reduce errors but will also make movements smoother for our patients. By introducing newer technologies, we will be able to provide more advanced treatment protocols, and effectively bring down duration of stay in hospital, eventually cutting down on expenses for our patients. The key to the future definitely lies in focussing on digital technologies and related services.

Q5. Message for Healthcare Industry

As I said earlier, the future will be rewritten by digitisation and Artificial Intelligence, not just in healthcare but in every sphere of life. As the focus increasingly shifts towards quality healthcare at affordable cost, this will be further aided by the use of digital tools. Access to latest technologies have proven that to move ahead, the driving force behind healthcare should be an urge to deliver the best, with a view to saving lives and alleviating sufferings by staying ahead of the curve, in terms of both technology and services. The healthcare industry needs to follow through with such changes and set its course for the coming decade.