Known as price driver in this region revolutionised the prices of medical procedures
Ivy Healthcare Group is driven by a passion to provide quality healthcare services to the patients at affordable rates. The Ivy Healthcare Group has gradually become a trusted group ever since the launch of the first flagship Ivy Hospital way back in 2007. Gurtej Singh, the chairman of Ivy Healthcare Group, talks to Ishpreet about his vision for the Ivy Group. The group aims to become the largest and trusted healthcare provider in the region. Gurtej Singh feels blessed to have the required enterprise and resources that helped him to take secondary and tertiary healthcare to the doorstep of the patients. Before coming up with Ivy group, Gurtej Singh, a first generation entrepreneur, and his wife Dr Kanwaldeep, who is a radiologist, managed a few diagnostic centres. The patients who would undergo diagnostic tests with them would seek their advice for further reference for tertiary care treatment. So they decided to launch a hospital that would provide world class healthcare at affordable rates while at the same time adhering to ethical code of conduct.
How would you introduce Ivy group of hospitals?
Ivy Healthcare Group is not the largest but it is the most ethical hospital where quality of healthcare and trust are our utmost priority. Committed to this ethos, we are able to reach 1.5 lakh patients every year. Ivy Group of Hospitals is one of the biggest super speciality hospitals network running in Punjab. Our vision is to be a dominant healthcare provider in the region. We are passionately driven towards our mission of taking healthcare to the patients’ doorsteps. To accomplish this, we have five operational super speciality hospitals in Mohali, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Nawanshahr and Khanna. Very soon we are coming up with three more hospitals in Panchkula, Bathinda and Jalandhar.
Medical costs are skyrocketing. Where does your hospital stand in making reliable and affordable healthcare accessible to all?
Ivy has always been known for being the price driver in this region. We have revolutionised the prices of medical procedures. Our hospitals costs are much lesser compared to other private hospitals. A very common cardiac procedure, angioplasty, costs lakhs of rupees in other hospitals but in Ivy, the whole surgery costs less than Rs 1 lakh which also includes the cost of stent. Further, we are in talks with our investors to slash down the costs of cardiac surgeries to level set by the Union government.
We offer concessional rates to poor patients as part of our corporate social responsibility. Also, in case of emergencies, we never deny treatment to an extent. Urgent medical care is given to the patient and if the family can’t afford the treatment, concessional prices are offered to them otherwise they are suitably advised and referred to a government hospital.
What special facilities does the hospital provide? What makes your hospital different from others?
Ivy is the largest in dialysis, organ transplants and orthopaedics. At Ivy, we have advanced critical care facilities, modern life support and intensive care. We hire clinicians who are trained at premium institutes of the country. Our team comprises of dedicated, professionally qualified and honest doctors who are committed to provide quality medical care to the patients. We are taking critical care to remote areas where these aren’t available. Three out of five operational Ivy hospitals are NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers) accredited, which is the highest quality certification for any hospital in India, and the other two are also following all the parameters to gain the accreditation. The NABH accreditation ensures that all the protocols that are set by them are followed and quality of care is maintained across all the hospitals. This results in a consistent care of patients.
What makes Ivy different from other hospitals is the quality of care and its affordability. The hospital is at par with the leading hospitals in terms of quality, facilities and reliability but charges are about 25 per cent less as compared to those hospitals. Another important aspect that makes Ivy different is its continuing dedication to take healthcare at the doorsteps of the patients for which we have plans to diversify Ivy Group to the whole of North India.
Where do you think India lags in medical facilities compared to other countries? How do you visualise the future of healthcare industry in India?
India is now a fast developing country and the healthcare sector has also evolved with time. I believe that with more time, training, better infrastructure and latest technology, there is a bright scope for India to match up to the healthcare sector abroad. But there are still a few doctors and hospitals that perform no less than those in other advanced countries.
The future of healthcare industry holds huge opportunities for doctors, medical insurers and investors. Nowadays people aspire to live long and maintain good quality of life, for which they take up medical insurances. Life expectancy rate has increased from 55 to 75 years. Hospitals and training centres are taking every possible step to raise the standards of medical care in India.
What is the hospital capacity for patients and the strength of clinicians in this hospital?
The Ivy group has a total 800 operation beds and 100 critical care beds. Across the group, we have 25+ super specialty departments, 125+ clinicians, 1500+ paramedical and nursing staff, with 3000+ complex surgeries performed annually.
How do you plan the growth of the hospital?
With the aim to expand in the entire north region, we aspire to provide best in class medical care to all the areas which are devoid of good healthcare facilities. We are in the process of identifying such places and devise a plan on how to cover those areas.