Owing to their passion and profession to heal patients, Doctors are often referred to as the saviors of society. Coming from a humble background, Dr. Shabana Khan (CEO, Prince Aly Khan Hospitals) got exposed to the various distinctive nuances of society from quite an early age that compelled her to become a doctor since she considered the profession to be one of the most respected ones. During her tenure as a doctor and visiting consultant, she felt an inclination towards getting involved with the healthcare system more intrinsically and she went ahead to complete her MBA in hospital management and Master’s in medical-legal practice.
Reflecting on her transition from the anesthetics department to the hospital management arena, Dr. Shabana shares that, according to her, the knowledge acquired as an anesthetist helped her design better policies and manage the healthcare system effectively. As such a benevolent mindset compelled her to navigate from a clinical background to an administrative arena, there has been no looking back. Equipped with a total post PG experience of 17 years and senior management experience of 8 years, Dr. Shabana has worked as a Medical Director in PAKH and Medical Superintendent at Fortis and Asian Cancer Institute, Mumbai, prior to working as a CEO at Prince Aly Khan Hospital at present.
Dr. Shabana engages in an exclusive interaction with CEO Insights.
Define Prince Aly Khan Hospitals as a healthcare institution and the values it possesses?
Prince Ali Khan Hospital has a 75-year-old legacy in treating patients in Mumbai and across India. So, far, we have treated about 15 lakh patients in the OPD, and approx. 1.8 lakh patients in the ER. Also, we’ve done more than 50,000 surgeries in the past 10 years. Since this organization is a part of the Aga Khan development network, we believe in improving the quality of life, which encompasses improvements in the standard of living, health, and education. Our core values comprise pluralism, cultural tolerance, gender and social equity, as well as good governance. Sticking to our core values, we believe in being fair to our ethics and our patients.
What is the impact you have been making in your current role? What would you say is the uniqueness in your style of leadership?
As a leader, I believe that everyone possesses the power to realize their dreams. We want to give a platform, especially to women, where we can nurture their talent and help them to grow to their fullest potential. According to me, empowering a woman is a misnomer, because I believe that women are already powerful.
Intrinsically, women are strong and resilient. What we can do is to give them a platform wherein they can recognize their inner power, and channel it constructively.
If we talk about my style of leadership, I believe in aligning all the teams with the organizational goals. Also, I encourage people to take decisions and support them intrinsically in those decisions. As an organization, we promote learning, and we believe that everyone has to constantly upgrade themselves, as well as their skills, since healthcare is an evolving industry. The other thing which I strongly believe in is being true to myself and I also encourage my team to do the same.
How has been your response to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic? How would you describe your role in tackling those challenges?
So COVID 19 pandemic has been challenging for the entire healthcare industry and globally for everyone. But the challenging situations have been impressively tackled because of the tremendous support from our network, including our senior leadership team, doctors, nurses, technicians, and even our unionized staff. During the pandemic, everybody came together with just one goal of treating the patients of Prince Aly Khan Hospital. Using standardized Infection control protocols and guidelines, our excellent doctors, nurses and infection control specialists have helped us deal with this pandemic.
As a result of this, we treated more than 2000 patients, with a recovery rate of about 80 percent. Apart from an RTPCR lab in house, where we have done more than 25,000 RTPCR tests till now, we also have the gene expert testing procedure for testing the COVID-19 virus, which gives you the detection of the virus within 45 minutes and it’s one of the fastest tests in Mumbai at this point of time.
I will either find a way or I will make one
In your professional journey so far, which are the milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction?
Coming from a lower-middle-class family with a single parent, who was a BMC school teacher, becoming a doctor is one of the biggest highlights of my life. The other milestone would be going to the United Kingdom by myself and completing the FRCA training. Staying alone and navigating in a foreign country, without any help or assistance from anybody was an extremely difficult and gratifying milestone in my life. I think as a healthcare leader, restarting the maternity services in our hospital was probably the biggest achievement for me, because it was an extremely challenging job. When I took over as the CEO of Prince Aly Khan Hospital during the extremely turbulent times of the COVID pandemic, and managing hospital operations in uncertain times, was very challenging and gratifying experience.
What would be your advice to the aspiring leaders of the healthcare sector, especially women?
We have to move with time, adopt new technologies, learn and keep up with the changing times if we have to grow. This is valid for everyone including aspiring women leaders. Taking risks in your life is an important key, if you want to achieve anything because if you’re not going to take risks, you’re going to remain stagnant. Growth is a painful process and happens outside the comfort zone. Many times opportunity masquerades as adversity, and we may lose it due to fear of the adversity. One must not fall into this trap. Having belief in ones abilities, and not underestimating what you can achieve will help you reach for larger goals. It is not important where you come from, but where you go ultimately. Let not your past dictate your future.
Dr. Shabana Khan, CEO, Prince Aly Khan Hospital
After qualifying as an anaesthetist from Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College in Mumbai, Dr. Shabana went to the UK to pursue the FRCA and FCARCSI. She practiced anaesthetics for 13 years of before deciding to go for an MBA in hospital management, and then subsequently enrolled herself in the advanced program in strategic management from IIM Calcutta and Digital Marketing from Indian School of Business.
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