The 240-bedded Bhatia General Hospital, has decided to do away with its middle-class image and project itself as an elite super specialty tertiary hospital. In doing so, the hospital would be competing with the other big super specialty hospitals in its category including the likes of Hinduja, Breach Candy, Lilavati etc.

After completion of Phase I and Phase II of the hospital remodeling work, it has now entered into the Phase III of renovation work, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of September, it is learnt.

Revealing details of the hospital remodeling plan, Dr Naseem Mohammed, manager, Administration and Planning said that phase-III restructuring of the various departments that would cost the hospital few crores of rupees has already begun and would be completed gradually within the next 6 months or so. Apart from the physical redo, the hospital would also be imbibing new corporate principles currently being followed by many corporate houses in the country. This would involve setting up of a new corporate logo for the hospital itself, revealed Dr Mohammed.

"The new managing committee under the leadership of Rajnikanth Jetha, chairman and trustee of the hospital has taken the onus of reshaping and uplifting the current standards in the hospital. Apart from the physical restructuring, emphasis will also be laid on areas like corporate affairs, finance, marketing and medical management among the others," said Dr. Mohammed of the new task.

By doing so, the committee plans to make the hospital one of the best centres in the country, offering premium services at rates that would be affordable to the common man, he said.

Among other things, the hospital would also be looking at treating patients from abroad given the competitive prices that it is offering for its various procedures. It has already managed to secure patients from foreign countries including those from South Africa, Tanzania and Nairobi among the others.

"The rate for a normal CABG starts from a minimal Rs.80,000 to 1,20,000, which is the best being offered by any hospital in our category. The same is the case with other procedures, where the cost is kept at a minimum and more emphasis is laid on providing quality treatment to the patient. This is one of the reasons why many patients from abroad come to our hospital seeking treatment. In fact, the latest entrant is the Singapore Health Ministry, who has approached us for treating their patients at our hospital", quipped Dr Mohammed.

According to Dr Mohammed, the departments that have already been set up under the P-I and P-II include a new chemical dependency unit, a super-specialty orthopedic OPD, bronchoscopy unit and the fully furnished 100-bedded C-class wards, which is tagged as being the best in the city.

"The beds in the general wards have been converted into cubicles and apart from providing luxurious benefits, they would be available at a very modest rate of Rs.700 per day, within the reach of the common man", says Dr Mohammed on the redo of the new C-class ward of the hospital.

Further, the departments that are being developed under the final P-III plans include; urological centre with lithotripsy, chemotherapy and hemato-oncology, voice lab, cosmetic surgery, new pathology and diagnostic section, facility for component separation in its blood bank and provision for digital x-ray in the Imaging department.

Apart from the above, the hospital would also be relocating and expanding some of its departments into a bigger unit. These include the pathology and diagnostic department that would be shifted to the second floor of the hospital, the pediatric ward which would be shifted to the sixth floor of the hospital and the labour ward which would be equipped with the latest birthing suite and built on the first floor of the hospital.