‘Looking for growth opportunities in both eastern and western India’

Manipal Hospitals, which acquired Columbia Asia Hospitals last year to become the second largest hospital network in the country after Apollo, is looking at both organic and inorganic growth opportunities. DILIP JOSE, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Manipal Health Enterprises, in an interaction with Samreen

Ahmad, says the hospital chain is also gearing up for the next phase of Covid vaccination drive. The company is also ready to set up offsite vaccination centres for large corporates. Edited excerpts:

What are the preparations going on at Manipal Hospitals' network for the coming phase of vaccination drive? How many people can you inoculate in a day?

The ability to conduct largescale vaccination depends on supplies. So, we are waiting to hear from the government on how supplies will come.

If that is not a constraint, we have vaccination clinics that will administer these vaccines. It’s an intramuscular vaccine and our nurses are trained to innoculate.

We have about 4,500 nurses who are a part of the Manipal Hospitals network but they cannot be dedicated to vaccinate only as we have in-patient and outpatient loads also.

We will have to see demand in the first few days to decide on the allocation of nurses for the vaccination drive. If supplies are available, we can inoculate up to 20,000 people in a day across our network, assuming there is

a steady stream of people coming in.

Are you getting enquiries from large corporates for vaccination?

If there are largescale requirements for corporates, we can set up offsite vaccination centres for them. We have been reached out by largescale IT enterprises based out of Bengaluru as well as manufacturing companies, and resident welfare associations enquiring about our offsite set ups.

DILIP JOSE

What role can technology play in such a largescale drive?

The COWIN app can handle the large volume of 270 million people, who are eligible for vaccination in the next phase by keeping a track on records.

People going for international travel may need to produce a Covid vaccine passport which could be issued via smartphones. The need for a booster dose requirement may come after a few months.

How has Covid changed the way Manipal Hospitals function?

Our hospitals were tech-oriented but a lot of it was in the back end. Now, technology has brought an interface to engage with customers on the front end via tele-consultation.

Close to 10 per cent of our daily outpatient consultations are still happening on the Manipal app, which is video-integrated despite transportation and travel having opened up.

There has also been an increased openness to home care.

Has the footfall in Manipal Hospitals come back to pre-covid levels?

While outpatient is currently about 80 per cent of pre-covid levels, for inpatient, we are back to pre-covid numbers.

Has the Columbia Asia acquisition been completed? What does this buy mean for the company?

We expect it to be completed by March as we are awaiting regulatory approvals. The geographies that we can cater to as an integrated system will be much larger as we are not there in Pune and Kolkata. In the north, we have only two hospitals. The cultural fit is also significant for both these hospital chains.

Are you looking at more acquisitions? Will your strategy be only limited to inorganic growth?

MD and CEO, Manipal Hospitals

We are looking at opportunities in eastern and western India to enhance our coverage. We are also looking at a greenfield 250-bed hospital in north Bengaluru that will come up in the next 2-2.5 years.

Expansion depends on the opportunities that come along, and we are open to both organic and inorganic growth.