While there is a lot of investor interest towards super-speciality hospitals in the city, the small nursing homes and clinics in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts are increasingly finding it tough to survive in a highly competitive market.
A majority of these clinics and nursing homes are single-doctor and single-speciality driven and are struggling to compete with multi-speciality health centres that have cropped-up everywhere in Hyderabad.
Unlike Western countries where patients can’t even dream of entering super-speciality hospitals without a doctor’s referral, patients in Hyderabad can simply walk into a tertiary care hospital for mundane issues like cold and cough. Non-inclusion of small clinics and nursing homes in the State-sponsored Arogyasri health insurance scheme is also a big factor impacting the growth of such health care facilities, experts aver.
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Owners of several such clinics and nursing homes have also pointed out that government regulations too have made it tough these days to operate such small-scale facilities. In a recent annual convention of Telangana Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (THANA), its members had urged the Telangana government to include them in Arogyasri.
“There is no logic for super-speciality hospitals to take up small surgeries like appendix or a hysterectomy. The government should open up Arogyasri for smaller hospitals. There is a need to promote referral system, which will reduce the present burden on corporate hospitals,” said Joint Secretary, Telangana State, THANA, G.N. Reddy.
In fact, procedure to acquire permissions to start a clinic is tough in Hyderabad. Typically, a doctor spends at least one year to seek permissions from 25 to 30 different government departments. The worst part is that these departments will give permission only for one year. “Multi-speciality hospitals with deep pockets can survive such a system, but not single-speciality clinics and nursing homes. There is a need for a single window system that will go a long way in resolving such issues,” Dr. Reddy said.
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There are close to 2,000 nursing homes and clinics in twin cities and Ranga Reddy district. To get NOC from the Fire Services Department, all these facilities should have over head tank, sump, and multiple back up diesel generators etc. “These rules suit corporate hospitals with bed strength of more than 50. We are urging the government to provide us with some alternatives,” Dr. Reddy pointed out.
(This is in continuation of the second part of the story published in these columns a few days ago. The first part focussed on high investments into super-speciality hospitals)