Healthcare and hospital management - Serena Kallian

The healthcare industry in India is worth a whopping $ 17 billion and is expected to grow by 13 percent every year. This is certainly a great piece of news for all healthcare professionals and aspirants to this field. India is becoming widely recognised as one of the top destinations for medical tourism and economical medical treatments in world standards. The Indian government is not far behind in these matters as well. It is said that among developing nations the expenses incurred by the government of India for healthcare is the highest, to be precise it is 5.25 percent of the GDP. However, for India the journey to the top spot as the number one health destination is a long way ahead.

The healthcare sector encompasses healthcare instruments, healthcare in the retail market, hospitals enrolled to the hospital networks etc. The health care industry is still wrought with lack of skilled manpower and able managers to run the show. This need for management and organised effort in healthcare and hospital administration has been recognised by some of the top hospitals and academic institutes in the country. The industry is also opening its doors to many general and specialised MBAs in the country. For the US where the job market seemed dismal in 2008 it was the healthcare sector which managed to retain and also add jobs to its market. The healthcare services sector added up to 3,72,000 jobs throughout 2008.

In order to help place professionals in the healthcare and allied services industry, especially in the operations and management segment are general to specialised programmes in management. These courses in hospital administration and healthcare management are available as fulltime, part time and distance mode. For instance in the Indian setup many of the top medical institutes and hospital chains have their own training programmes meant for a budding manager in the healthcare industry. MBA institutes like the Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences (SIHS) Pune offers a two year fulltime programme for medical professionals called the MBA Hospital and Healthcare Management. Selection to this course is through the SNAP test organised by Symbiosis University for all kinds of management programmes across its institutes. The other processes in selection include a group discussion and personal interview.

Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi (FMS) is yet another B-school offering a part time educational programme in health care administration. This programme was started in the year 1972. It aims to provide students with a managerial and technical foundation for careers in consulting, medical products, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, financial services, venture capital, health care systems, health plan management and insurance, associations and government.

These programmes usually take up professionals with a background in healthcare or medical services. So it is ideal for MBBS, BDS, BHMS and other allied academic backgrounds from the medical field. The other institutes and groups that offer similar programmes include All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi; Apollo Institute of Hospital Administration, Hyderabad; Birla Institute of Science and Technology, Pilani; Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal; Tata Institute of Social Sciences, etc.

In the international scenario, these specialised healthcare management programmes are offered as short term, part time and online courses. American College of Health Care Administrations; Association of University Programs in Health Administration, Arlington; Institute of Health Services Management, London; Healthcare Technologies (MSc) offered at City University London; executive MBA Health Care Management (MBA) at Munich Business School; a programme in healthcare governance at Loughborough University are a few examples of international programmes available.

What roles do these professionals take up in the industry? This is certainly a valid question. Many of these professionals as mentioned earlier handle various roles in the management and operations segment. They take up roles in consultancy, health insurance, hospitals, international health organisations like UNDP, in IT (health vertical), life sciences, medical equipments, pharmaceutical companies, public health organisations, etc. Thus, opportunities seem unlimited for a healthcare professional.