Manipal Hospitals will revamp and rebrand Calcutta’s AMRI hospitals in about three months and one of the changes the Bangalore-based chain plans to bring is replacing doctors who hop clinics with full-time medical practitioners.
Manipal Health Enterprises had in September announced the acquisition of an 84 per cent stake in four hospitals of the AMRI group, three of which are in Calcutta.
The Emami Group, which owned AMRI Hospitals, continues to hold 15 per cent in the chain. The Bengal government has around 1 per cent stake.
The name “AMRI Hospitals” will be changed to Manipal soon, said sources in the group. The hospitals in Dhakuria, Salt Lake and Mukundapur will bear the Manipal board then.
“We are planning to launch the brand name Manipal replacing the existing AMRI in about three months. The process of revamping the hospitals has already started,” said a source in Manipal.
According to the source, a big change would be improving the clinical standards. The three hospitals now have many “visiting consultants”, doctors who hop from one hospital to another.
Gradually, the visiting consultants would be replaced by doctors who are employed by the hospital full time and would devote their entire time to the Manipal hospitals, said the source.
An official of the group said this would help improve the quality of treatment.
“We are bringing clinical excellence and quality service on a par with the Manipal standards from the south. We want improved patient experience at all our hospitals in eastern India,” said the Manipal official.
The CEO of another hospital said one of the major problems with visiting consultants is time management.
“The visiting consultants often fail to come to the OPD in time because of their commitments elsewhere. The hospital does not have control over the schedule of these doctors,” said the CEO. “Such doctors are often not available throughout the year.”
The CEO pointed out that it is easier for big hospitals to invest and plan upgrade in
a particular department if there are a good number of permanent doctors on the payroll.
“Doctors, too, find it easier to work at one hospital instead of travelling from one unit to another. There are infrastructure and medico-legal issues involved more than before,” he said.
Apart from improving clinical experience, the Manipal group also plans to upgrade AMRI’s infrastructure.
“We are investing money to upgrade equipment like cathlab,” said a Manipal official.
Dilip Jose, managing director and CEO, Manipal Health Enterprises, had told Metro during the Bengal Global Business Summit that the group would spend on the infrastructure at the AMRI hospitals.
“In the past three to four years, for various reasons, the hospitals have not upgraded their technology. We are spending before the end of this financial year and, in the next financial year, we will spend Rs 115 to Rs 120 crore on technology and building upgrade,” Jose had said.
Manipal would also change the “look and feel” of AMRI, said an official in the group.
“The drapes will be changed, for example. We will try and create more space for patients and their relatives,” the official said.