The Best Way Forward Is To Have Many Single Specialty Segments: Dr Samir Sud

In recent years, several hospitals in the single-specialty areas such as mother and child care, oncology and eye-care etc. have gained traction. The business models of these hospital chains are still evolving. Yet the private equity and venture capital firms have shown plenty of interest in this segment.

Top healthcare industry experts discuss on ‘the future of single specialty hospitals and clinics and how they are gradually developing with time’ at the BW Healthcare Summit and Award organised by BW Businessworld.

The eminent panelists included Mitesh Daga, Managing Director, TPG Capital; Amarinder Singh, Founder, Clove Dental; Vikram Vuppala, Founder & Ceo, Nephroplus and Dr. Samir Sud, Director, Sharp Sight Centre. The session was chaired by Sudhir Mishra, Founder And Managing Partner, Trust Legal.

While addressing the gathering, Sudhir Mishra pointed that single specialty hospitals are now being looked as a very viable alternative for speedy healthcare. He further asked the panelist about their journey in the healthcare sector and their views on the single specialty hospitals.

Dr. Samir Sud said, “If you don’t have multi system problem you don’t need to go to multi-specialty hospital. People are comfortable going to single specialty hospital because the whole team is specialised in that specific field”.

Amarinder Singh opined that single specialty is accepted because it is convenient for patients. “If you provide convenience to your patients, they will come to you only”, he stated.

The panelists further talked about the investment in the particular sector and the kind of challenges they face.

Mitesh Daga talked about the single specialty chains and the parameters they consider before investing. He said, “Each single specialty has a different flavour to it. If you can prove a model, which drives efficiency that would be in the form of patient convenience, better clinical outcomes or thrives innovation, then eventually that would be a winning all day and that's what we look for”.

He also expressed that there is an opportunity in every sector of the healthcare industry since 90 per cent of the population doesn't have access to good healthcare facility. “One can make a profitable business model and create value for the patient or the consumer in any of the segments, he said.

After working in the US healthcare industry, Vikram Vuppala expressed that he always wanted to come to India and explore the ecosystem of diabetes and hypertension. “India has around 80 million diabetics and another 100 million hypertension. These two are the risk factors for one of the core ideas that I had to choose ‘dialysis’, he said.
 
 He also added “The passion is to increase access since the access, both in terms of capacity and quality, is really low in tier 2 and tier 3. Instead of focusing on top 10-20 cities, we focused on providing quality dialysis in tier II and tier III cities. And we are happy with this foray.”

He strongly feels that a hospital should be only focusing on clinically challenging aspects of care. He added, “Hospitals should primarily focus on acute care and everything else will be taken care of”.

Dr. Samir Sud stated, “The best way forward is to have many single specialty segments”.