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The Columbia Asia Hospitalat Brigade Gateway

Interview with Dr Nandakumar Jairam

What follows is a more detailed version of the interview with Dr NandakumarJairam, Chairman of Columbia Asia Hospital, that appeared in the latest issue ofBrigade Insight !he interview was "ondu"ted b# $iswa %ratap Desu &'r (eneral)anager*)arketing+ and )athew Abraham &)anager*CorporateCommuni"ations+ of Brigade nterprises -td, on ./ De"ember

We would like to know a little about Columbia Asia Hospitalits origin, historyand how its come to ndia!

Columbia Asia is an international companycurrently with operations and developmentsin Malaysia and Vietnam. And it was about three years ago that Columbia Asia decidedto come to India. We have facilities opening almost simultaneously in Delhi and ol!ata"and are e#panding to the other metros and Class A cities of this country. Within a coupleof years" the name Columbia Asia will be seen through the length and breadth of thiscountry.

"es, but why ndiaand why speci#ically $angalore%$asically" India has a rapidly emerging middle class populationone that always has acertain %splurge& capacity and increase in the need for healthcare of a different !ind.

In the developing and the not'so'developed countries" healthcare generally ta!esthe shape of governmental or social methods of healthcare provisions( that is" throughgovernment hospitals or subsidised healthcare. $ut as the population becomes moreaffluent" and aspects such as health insurance and a better paying group of patientsemerge" the )uality of life improves and the need for cleaner" better surroundings comeup. Columbia Asia witnessed this in Malaysiaand is sure it will happen in India verysoon.

$angalore is a rapidly growing city with an e)ually vibrant and growingpopulation. $ut the distribution of hospitals in $angalore is not even. *outh $angalorehas a lot of hospitals" but +orth $angalore is medically under'served. And so Columbia

Asia decided to open its first hospital in the north of $angalore. *ubse)uently of course"it has decided on starting hospitals in various other locations in India as well.

How many branches o# Columbia Asia hospitals do we ha&e in $angalore at themoment%We have one running facility ,which was Columbia Asia&s first in India- at ebbal. /hesecond is coming up in the $rigade 0ateway pro1ect2 the third and fourth are in the eastand south of $angaloreand e#pected to be operational in about a year&s time or so.

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How di##erent will Columbia Asia at 'ateway be #rom other hospitals%/he Columbia Asia model is very different from other models. We always believe in!eeping our beds at small numbers. All our community hospitals" li!e ebbal" would bearound 344 beds ,of course" the hospital in $rigade 0ateway is different" and I will spea!about that separately.-

+ow when we restrict to a 344 beds" we find that we are able to provide medical

care at costs which are e#tremely competitive" because the investment is less and thehospital is easier to manage. In present day medical care" a large portion of the care ismoving away from hospitals into the domiciliary form" so we can reduce the number ofdays the patient spends in the hospital. *een as a model" this has profound relevance(we can offer healthcare at value for money. In fact" we can use the word affordable"within the realms of corporate healthcare.

We also provide 5evidence based6 medicine. +ow what is evidence basedmedicine7 It is information collated from throughout the world to decide the method ofinvestigation and treatment of every perceived illness. /his is based on 1ournals" te#tboo!s and also other institutions which provide such informationto add to all this" wealso !eep the local situation in view" since what is done in the 8* or 9urope may not beapplicable to the current Indian situation at all. I am proud to say we follow this system.

I am also we are proud to say that from the day of our inception" we are almostpaperless. We have got a seamless electronic mechanism which ta!es care of not onlybilling and other financial re)uirements but also almost every aspect of patientinformation.

:atients are treated differently in Columbia Asia;here" the patient sees thetreatment and then pays2 not vice'versa. And there are no )ueues( people are seated"people are escorted;it&s a different feelingor e#ample" the airconditioning and the engineering standards of the operating rooms in our hospitals arebased on American standards which are e#cellent.

"ou mentioned, at the beginning, that all the hospitals are ()) beds but 'atewayis di##erent because think it is *)) plus+

0ateway is an entirely different model. +ow in the community hospitals we ta!e care ofthe routine problems that a patient has" whatever it may be( it could be to do with theheart" lungs" with babies being born" with bro!en bones;whatever. $ut some of the highlevel caresuch as heart operations" interventional cardiology and so onis notavailable in abundance in some of the other hospitals that we have started" which werefer to as referral hospitals.

Columbia Asia at $rigade 0ateway has the complete complement of medicalservices. It is therefore double the si?e of our other hospitals.

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What are the key areas o# specialisations Columbia Asia will ha&e at $rigade'ateway%@i!e any other hospital" will have internal medicine" general surgery" orthopedics"neurology and pediatric surgery" state'of'the'art diagnostic facilities including radiology"labs and so on.

Apart from this" we will have some very uni)ue departments. =ne of these will be

emergency medicine" which would provide care at your doorstep ,it&s a method oftreating people from the time they report sic! rather than lose precious time by waitingfor them to come to the hospital-. We will also specialise in neurosciences" trauma andorthopedics" high ris! pregnancies" critical care" transplants" gastro intestinal surgery"minimal invasive surgery" entire internals of cardiology and bypass surgery"endocrinology" bariatric surgery ,for obesity and overweight- and neo'natal care , infantsand small children-. We have an e#cellent team of people to provide all this.

Ha&e you already recruited or is the process in progress%We have begun recruitment;it commenced soon after the foundation was laid by$rigade. ospitals re)uire a combination of the best infrastructure and the best s!ills"

and I feel proud to say that the people that I have gathereddoctors" administrators andnon'medical peopleare indeed uni)ue. I have people relocating directly from the8nited *tates" 8nited ingdom and the best of institutions in this country to serve ourpeople.

here ha&e been recent reports on associations with the upcoming internationalairport+es;that&s true" and we are privileged that $IA have chosen us from among all thehealthcare providers in the city. We have signed an agreement with them to provide not

1ust medical care for the people in the airport terminal" but also for the passengers whoarrive at or depart from the terminal. We are also prepared for a mass disaster

managementan eventuality every airport has to be prepared for.

With the opening o# medical tourism, $angalore being one o# the destinations, am sure this de#initely would be +!!While we will not say no to others" serving the world and not serving our own people isnot what we want to do. =ur priority is the Indian population. /he hospital aims to deliverefficient and affordable healthcare in a hygienic and caring environment with the beliefthat every citi?en has the right to proper medical facilities. We have to serve our peoplefirst.

s the -integrated encla&e. concept the reason #or choosing $rigade 'ateway asone o# the locations%>or Columbia Asia" strategic locations are of high importance. As far as possible" we donot believe in starting a healthcare facility in congested areas of the city where approachand movement would be difficult. =uts!irts of cities" where people are medically under'served" are our preferred locations to set up a facility.

In this light" $rigade 0ateway is e#tremely strategic in its locationconsideringthe amount of open space that is e#istent in the centre of the city. It is at the 1unction of

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three large areas of $angaloreeshwantpur" Malleswaram and Ba1a1inagarso it wasan obvious choice.

:eople today have the ability to choose and live well2 they loo! at cleanliness inthe environment" infrastructure which they would li!e to have...8nfortunately in thecentre of the city you cannot get all that you would li!e. *ee you may get a nice housebut you may not get good surroundings" you may get a nice house but not a school close

by" so on and so forth.$ut an enclave provides all this. 9nclaves are an emerging concept" and a place

of that nature in the heart of the city is more precious than gold. I thin! enclaves are theway of the future and I would probably be correct in saying that we are one of the luc!yfew to have found such an area within the heart of the city

How large a patient base will it be%Ideally" as in the case of a community hospital li!e ebbal" we loo! at people within halfan hour of driving distance from the hospital. $ut with $rigade 0ateway" we thin! reallyfar and wide.

/ne last 0uestion1 would you ha&e some special #acility #or the 'atewayresidents%We will definitely have to involve them. We shall see what best we can do.