Right time to act and ensure no community transmission of Omicron happens: Fortis Healthcare CEO

Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi

The pandemic has thrown new challenges for the healthcare industry and with the spread of the new variant, Omicron, the hospitals are gearing for any fresh surge. In an interview to Moneycontrol, Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, Managing Director and CEO of Fortis Healthcare, threw light on the challenges faced during the pandemic, medical tourism, non-Covid business, and the importance of telemedicine in the changed landscape. Edited excerpts.

What kind of infrastructure plans have you mapped to face any threat arising from the new variant or a possible third wave?

From what we have learnt so far, it appears that the new variant Omicron is mild in nature and does not require hospitalisation like the previous variants but with that said, we need to be more cautious and this is the right time to act and ensure no community transmission of Omicron happens. The cases have increased in the last 2-3 days in certain states.

If required, we have the flexibility to reshuffle beds and increase beds for COVID. Oxygen-related infrastructure has been repaired and in addition to that, PSA plants have been created both in public and private sectors. Out of 15 oxygen plants that we had planned, eight are already running and the rest will be ready in the next 3-4 months.

The availability of drugs and pharma is better and a large section of the society has also received at least one dose of the vaccine. Fortis Healthcare was among the first hospital chains to introduce telemedicine services across 23 centers and have made significant investments in enabling hospitals across our chain to provide telemedicine services to patients. In case there is any new wave or increase in cases in certain pockets, facilities like telemedicine, E-ICUs will help us provide continuous treatment to the patients.

What lessons have you learnt from the pandemic? How did you face the challenges including that of human resources and logistics?

The last two years have been very challenging, especially for the healthcare sector. Collective co-operation from all partners has helped us get through this massive challenge. We now need to take this momentum forward and establish greater synergies between the government and healthcare providers. The pandemic has emphasised the need for greater investment to strengthen our healthcare infrastructure across the spectrum.

One of the biggest gaps that the pandemic highlighted was the lack of skilled healthcare workers and concerted efforts supported by the right policy push is the need of the hour.

Additionally, we all learnt that it is important to communicate. This is a time for collective efforts and maintaining the channel of communication open with internal and external stakeholders. Lastly, to adapt to the new normal, we can go completely paperless and make greater use of technology in healthcare - including monitoring, adherence to treatments, regular health checks, report analysis, mapping disease trends, among others.

Read More: Maharashtra reports eight new Omicron infections, tally rises to 40 

What are your growth targets and expansion plans for 2022? Do you have any plans for diversification?

COVID didn’t dent our expansion plans. Most of our plans remain intact and on track as well. We delayed it for some and utilized our resources to strengthen COVID infrastructure in our hospitals across India. The sector is seeing signs of recovery and it has performed better in the last 2 quarters as compared to last year. We have planned to add 1300 beds in next two-three years in select facilities such as Shalimar Bagh, Noida, FMRI Gurgaon, Mulund, Mohali and Anandapur, out of which on-groundwork on adding 60 new beds has already started in Fortis Faridabad.

Apart from adding beds, we are focusing on strengthening the infrastructure in our centres by adding next-gen technologies. In the last two years, we have invested heavily in equipping our hospitals across India with advanced medical technologies, machinery and onboarding of senior clinicians.

We are bringing in next-gen oncology technology in Delhi/NCR region and planning to establish our hospital in Gurugram as the best destination for oncological treatment. We are progressing well on our strategic initiatives and have also initiated investments for advanced medical equipment such as Cath Labs, neuro microscopes, bone marrow transplant units and the likes in select facilities.

What should India do to catch the new variants at an early stage?

• We should accelerate the vaccination drive. COVID is here to stay, and vaccination is the only cure. I urge the citizens to participate in the vaccine drive and get themselves vaccinated
• Surveillance on airports should be increased. Genome sequencing of all international travelers testing COVID positive should be done.
• People should avoid travelling abroad at present and if travelling domestically, proper measures and precautions is advised to maintain.
• Greater focus on testing is the need of the hour. COVID testing has fallen in the last few months. Govt should look at disseminating messages and encourage citizens doing inter-state travel to get themselves tested.

The last two quarters have been positive for the sector. Non- covid business and elective surgeries are the main factors contributing to the recovery of the sector. The non-covid business has recovered since June but it will take some time to come back to pre-covid levels. Gaining back the normalcy of the hospital business is what we are working towards.

There is a gradual increase in month-on-month revenues and the sector is 70% back on track. Q2FY22 hospital business revenues grew 47.2% YoY to Rs 1,098.5 crore versus Rs 746.4 crore in Q2 FY21. Revenues in Q1FY22 were at Rs 1,006.5 crore. If there is no Third Wave, we expect the momentum to continue allowing the business to return to near normal in next 12-15 months. The diagnostics business continues its upward trajectory with non-covid revenues increasing 65%. The company added 107 net new collection centers to its network in Q2 FY22 taking the total number of collection centers to 1948. Home collection revenues also grew 40% versus Q2FY21.

What are you doing to bolster telemedicine and remote monitoring as post-pandemic, these have become vital ingredients of the health ecosystem?

We will continue to invest in digital health services across our centres. The private healthcare sector in India realised the importance of investing and building appropriate digital health infrastructure way before the pandemic struck us.

This enabled us to shift to online consultations, remain connected to existing patients, hesitant to visit hospitals and provide treatment to those who needed immediate assistance through remote care interventions. Fortis Healthcare was among the first hospital chain to introduce telemedicine services across 23 centers. We have seen significant increase in tele consult for many specialties.

The company continues to leverage digital and technology enablers to increase its patient footfalls. For the quarter, OPD Footfalls through digital channels more than doubled as compared to Q2FY21 and increased 21% versus Q1FY22

I believe, the acceptance of telemedicine among the public at large has also increased multifold. Also, many naysayers believed telemedicine will see a dip once the situation gets better, but it is encouraging that there is constant increase in patients opting for online consultations in the last two quarters at our hospitals.

Tele-medicine has a very bright future in India and has the capacity to resolve India’s long-standing challenges of access and shortage of medical staff.

Read More: Omicron tally crosses 100 in India, time to avoid unnecessary travel, says Health Ministry

Has the graph of medical tourism become better? How do you see the trajectory in the next few months?

Up to 10% of overall revenues of Fortis pre covid was contributed by medical tourism. The sector was hit by the pandemic the most.

Hospitals including Fortis Gurgaon, Bengaluru, and Chennai were contributing more than other hospitals. While the non-covid business has started recovering, medical tourism unfortunately is not going to be better until and unless the international travelling resumes.

We saw 50% of our international business getting back to normal but with the new variant and restrictions on international travel, we are expecting a fall in this vertical.  But we do understand the norms and protocols of the government and this something that we cannot do anything about it. It is very unlikely, that the international business will come back to pre-covid times in a short time.

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