The Hindu Business Line : Small-town hospitals get tech-savvy

A HOUSEWIFE in Nagercoil, 44-year-old Selvam is today relieved of a backache that has been nagging her for over five years. Recovering in the Sushrushah Hospitals, little is she aware that she has been operated upon aided by a three-dimensional mobile C-arm system - globally reputed as being a revolution in orthopaedic surgery.

Sandwiched between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the Nagercoil-based hospital is the first in India where Siemens Ltd has installed the Siremobil Iso-C 3D - a mobile arm with an imaging capability, placed in the operation theatre to allow surgeons to view three-dimensional images during surgical procedures.

That Siemens' first 3D C-arm in India has been installed at a hospital in Nagercoil endorses a pattern increasingly perceived by company officials - of small-town hospitals adapting to new technologies faster than their hi-profile big-city counterparts.

"Sushrushah Hospital is the seventh in Asia where the equipment has been installed," informs Mr D. Ragavan, Executive Vice-President, Medical Solutions Division, Siemens Ltd.

"About six months ago, we spoke to about 10 top hospitals in the country. But they seemed to be in no urgency for new technology. Small towns take to top-end technology, since it is a good differentiator among hospitals. It stems the outward flow of people to cities in search of good medical treatment. Branded hospitals in cities rely on their reputation to attract patients," he observes.

"I have had people coming to our hospital from nearby cities, some sort of a reverse flow to smaller centres," says Dr R. Mohandhas, an orthopaedic and reconstructive surgeon, who established Sushrushah Hospitals in 1992.

Passionate about technology, the reason he installed the Rs 80-lakh equipment in his hospital is because it gives 100 per cent confirmation in terms of accuracy and safety during surgery.

"For a spine implant that goes wrong, the cost paid by the patient is paralysis. In other surgeries, an error can possibly be rectified by reconstruction. But the trauma to the patient is immense in terms of surgery cost, hospital cost and post-operative cost. The new technology cuts down the patient's stay in hospital and hence the cost of treatment," explains Dr Mohandhas.

Mr Ragavan points out that new medical technology from Siemens has found takers in cities such as Jalandhar, Amritsar, Surat, Baroda and Meeraj (near Mumbai).

Another medical-equipment company representative, however, told Business Line: "The willingness to buy good medical solutions is sometimes not matched by the financial capability of small hospitals and that poses a problem."

According to healthcare industry analysts small-town hospitals are not just adopting new technology, they are even going in for accreditation. While some of them do it out of a passion, others do intend to give the Apollos or Wockhardt Hospitals a serious run for patients.

And benefiting from this competitive race in healthcare are people like 58-year-old Sheik Abdul Qadir who will be able to walk again, after a hip and knee-replacement surgery done at a hospital much closer to home.

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