Naresh Malhotra has a rich corporate track record. He's worked with ICI, Unilever and Colgate Palmolive, he was a president in the UB Group, and he was a founding partner of KPMG in India. But Bangaloreans remember him most for his six-year stint, between 2001 and 2007, as the head of Cafe Coffee Day, when he grew the chain from 18 outlets to 430, and made it one of the best recognized youth brands. He's now trying to do a Cafe Coffee Day in healthcare - establish small community clinics across the country under the name The Family Doctor. He says he's not a doctor, but "has the DNA to set up community clinics, because it has to be done like a coffee shop".
Community clinics overseen by general physicians (GPs) or family doctors are making a comeback. Others like Wellspring Healthcare and NationWide Primary Healthcare Services have started similar ventures. Why?
When we did a survey among hospitals, they said if you can take patients suffering from routine illnesses away, those patients will get better treatment, quicker treatment, and they won't be exposed to infections. My son who's a doctor says 90% of the time infections are picked up at hospitals.
Today, for a tetanus shot, dog bite or plain fever, you have to go to a hospital. Why? When I grew up I only went to a GP, so did my family, whether it was for a broken arm, measles, mumps, or for any illness. A GP can even read a cardiogram and say what's wrong. But what is precisely wrong, only a specialist would know. So a GP can diagnose and recommend you for further treatment.
The GP model will also bring down costs for patients enormously. Our clinics charge only Rs 125 per consultation. You go to a hospital and you will end up paying ten times that.
Is it easy to find GPs? The industry estimates that out of every 100 medical students only 2 look at becoming GPs.
I beg to differ. There are a lot of medical students who don't want to do higher education. They want to start a family, and don't want to keep studying for the rest of their lives. It's easier to find a GP than a nurse.
In 15 months you have opened 17 clinics in Bangalore. Do you have a pan-India plan?
We're opening three clinics in Pune in the coming week. Since it will take time to set up physical clinics across the country, we hit upon an idea by which we can scale up across the country rapidly. It's called Care For Relatives. Under this, if you are an NRI and your parents are in India, you can take out a health subscription for them at $500 per year.
We will send a doctor to visit your nominated relative once a month at a fixed date and time and conduct a full health check-up.
You will get a report of the patient's (mother/father) health within 24 hours. We also have a 24/7 call centre that can link you up with the doctor who is attending on your parents, and clarify any doubts you have. We have over 100 associate doctors spread across 50 cities.
Why are you targeting NRIs?
Simply because they feel guilty. There are 30 million NRIs. Even if just 0.1% of them use our services, it's $15 million revenue for us per year. And it's very profitable.
In India, primary healthcare is still largely funded by private enterprise. Is that a good healthcare model?
Where private enterprise alone cannot work is in the rural areas. We have made presentations to the Gujarat and Karnataka governments, suggesting a publicprivate partnership model, wherein they give us their existing primary health care centres in rural areas on a 30 year lease, and we will run it on a 'renovate, own, operate, and transfer' model. Currently, governments don't even spend 10% of their healthcare budgets, and they don't know how to do it.
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