Evolved as one of India’s largest sectors in terms of revenue and employment, the Indian healthcare sector is burgeoning at a significant rate, owing to its paramount coverage, premium services, and public and private players’ upsurging expenditure. The covid has further pushed the industry into the limelight, as the Indian doctors and health workers plunged into the obligation of providing seamless care to the patients and played a tremendous role in reviving numerous covid-affected peoples across the country.
Covid or not, our country remains in debt of these godsends who always remain on the frontline to offer health and care, sometimes even putting their own life at risk. Suppose we are to celebrate some of the prominent healthcare leaders of the country. In that case, Dr. Santosh Saklecha (Director, Santosh Hospital) tops the list owing to his outstanding and immaculate work across the Rheumatology and Internal Medicine sector.
Inspired by his father Dr. S Bikkamchand, who is a pediatrician, Dr Santosh was greatly moved by the way his father connected with the patient while treating them and selflessly treating them. From an early age, Dr. Santosh was determined to walk in his father’s shoes and be a doctor just like him by giving it back to society much benevolently. At present, Dr. Santosh is positioned as the director of the Santosh Hospital, and playing a pivotal role in navigating the hospital to greater heights.
Apart from being a member of the Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine (ISCCM) and Indian Rheumatology Association, Dean of the post-graduation studies as well as the paramedic and nursing school, Dr. Santosh is also a very active clinical investigator and have about 23 clinical trials under his belt. Some of the significant services provided include Rheumatology, Internal Medicine, Psoriasis Treatment, Systemic Sclerosis (Scleroderma), SLE, Connective Tissue Diseases, Osteo Arthritis, and so on.
Dr. Santosh engages in an exclusive interaction with CEO Insights.
How would you define Santosh Hospital and its position in the healthcare industry? What is its USP?
A 38-year-old hospital, Santosh Hospital is positioned in the heart of Bangalore city with 200 beds. Started as a pediatric and childcare unit by my father, the hospital is now equipped with all the latest equipment and specialized doctors required for effective diagnosis and treatment across every healthcare necessity. Receiving overwhelming responses so far from almost all of our patients, we have always taken utmost precautions to integrate ourselves as per the present demands of the healthcare industry. Growing year-on-year, we keep ourselves expanding by adding more healthcare units under our wings, but simultaneously not deviating from the quality of the services we adhere to.
Hygiene and cleanliness have always remained the key focus of our organization, and I think this is the USP that keeps us ahead of other players in the healthcare segment. We also ensure to provide personal attention to the patients having the highest health risks or suffering from anxiety issues, as comforting them and making them feel that they are in safe hands has always been our prime motto. By providing adequate services to our customers at reasonable prices, we have been able to carve our name as one of the leading healthcare service providers in the country.
How has your response been to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic? How would you describe your role in tackling those challenges?
Facing COVID has been an extremely difficult thing for hospitals all over the world, and Santosh Hospital wasn’t an exception either. For instance, when the pandemic started, there were a lot of employees who came forward expressing their reluctance to work. We understood their fear and doubt, but at the same time, we extended help and support to them at every phase and let them know that they were not alone in this situation. Secondly, tackling the pressure from the government to provide all the necessary aids to the patients, especially meeting the oxygen demand, was another crucial factor we had to focus on.
Growing year-on-year, we keep ourselves expanding by adding more healthcare units under our wings but simultaneously not deviating from the quality of the services we adhere to
Being an executive committee member of private hospital associations of Bangalore City (PHANA), I had to stay active constantly to conduct discussions with government bodies and committee. There was no time to spare, and I kept myself available for discussion via any medium possible. Of course, there were deaths, but the emotions that follow after are the hardest thing to encounter as a healthcare worker. My employees were devastated after witnessing so much pain and death around them, but I kept motivating them at every step. The situation is better now, and I am glad that we successfully came out of that challenging phase.
In your professional journey so far, which are the major milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction - both as an individual & as a healthcare-preneur?
As an individual and a healthcare person, I have many milestones, and I am quite proud of them. When I joined the hospital after my education, the first thing I wanted was to ensure that I had a good quality team of professionals working with me. We soon opted for our DNB program, and all of us at our organization had to go through a complicated and challenging phase as we were completely new to the program and were unaware of the nuances of the segment. After the program was completed, I was proud of myself for being able to do something great for the organization. Getting NABH accreditation for our hospital was also a challenging affair, and I would like to quote it as our second milestone. Similarly, amidst numerous verticals in our hospital, adding the department of cancer diagnostics as a prominent wing gave us a lot of acknowledgments amongst our patients. That is the third milestone for me.
Going forward, what are the major changes in healthcare trends that you anticipate, & how will they affect the industry at large?
Post-COVID, there will be a lot of changes in the healthcare sector, and there will be a lot of opportunities for us to prove ourselves. In my opinion, technology is going to bind the healthcare space, and the industry leaders should remain fixated on the technological advancements to remain ahead of the game. With the rise of the internet and digitization, video consultation has become quite popular in the healthcare industry. I think the concept of physically visiting doctors will soon perish. So, everything is going to be quite competitive, and technology is going to play a very major role in it, which will ultimately benefit the patients at large.
Dr. Santosh Saklecha, Director, Santosh Hospital
Dr. Santosh is a Rheumatologist and Internal Medicine specialist and has eight years of experience in these fields. He has completed MBBS from Devaraj URS Medical College - Kolar in 2006, MD – General Medicine from M S Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore in 2010, and Fellowship in Rheumatology from Eular Geneva in 2014.
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