A team of cardiologists turns hospital owners
It is found that startup ideas blossom mostly in the new-age sectors, and the traditional areas of business are left largely barren in terms of innovative ideas. Dr Anil Krishna Gundala, a cardiologist by profession, has become a trailblazer in the medical services space, by starting a hospital which is owned not by a nonmedical entrepreneur but by a team of cardiologists.
“It was my childhood dream to set up a nursing home in my home town Atmakur in Nellore district. During my shortstint as a physician however, I had realised that I need to have a specialisation to survive in this field and hence became a cardiologist. However, one needs huge amount of money to construct a greenfield hospital. So I decided to operate a separate cardiac division in an existing hospital to understand the complexities of hospital administration,” Dr Anil said, recalling his decision to partner with Sunshine Hospital’s Guruva Reddy to set up a separate heart division, which later became an exclusive heart institute.
After four years, Secunderabad-based Sunshine Heart Institute has emerged as the one of the largest players in cardiac interventions, with 20 cardiologists and six cardiac surgeons. Though the Hospitals was started as an orthopedic institute, off late it has became famous for cardiac interventions.
The success, however, wasn’t easy due to the reputation of Dr Guruva Reddy, Dr Anil’s marketing team had faced tough time when physicians thought Sunshine was an exclusive orthopedic hospital.
Setting up a new hospital typically requires nearly `200 crore. However, the asset-light model adopted by Dr Anil made setting up of a hospital much cheaper. “We don’t own our hospital buildings. We just take them on lease and buy required equipment.”
Dr Anil-led Sahrudya Healthcare, a subsidiary of parent firm Sarvejana Healthcare, owns three hospitals — the heart institute in Secunderabad, a multi-speciality hospital in Madhapur and Nellore — in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. “Because of the success of our heart institute, we are planning to expand the facility in the same area. Apart from this, we are planning to set up multispeciality hospitals in Bengaluru and Chennai in the next one or two years,” Dr Anil said.
Asked why can’t he start one more heart institute, Dr Anil claims it is near impossible to replicate. “It is very difficult to manage 20 cardiologists and six cardiac surgeons at one hospital.” This is the reason, he claims, big hospital chains in the country have never experimented with setting up specialised hospitals.