Delivering quality and patient safety

Through its network, KIMSHEALTH provides the continuum of healthcare delivery while maintaining high standards of clinical excellence and technology. Excerpts from an interview with Dr Sheriff M. Sahadulla, Group Chief Executive Officer, KIMSHEALTH.

Please take us through your professional journey? How did you end up being the Group CEO of KIMSHEALTH?

I attended medical school at Tufts University in Boston and did my residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan. I was looking for a clinical job and entered healthcare management quite by chance.  A hospital in Massachusetts was looking to develop a Hospitalist Program and I was hired right out of residency as the Associate Medical Director.

Throughout my career, I have always maintained a combination of both clinical as well as management work. I became a regional medical director/vice-president for a national healthcare management company in the US. At that time my father, Dr M I Sahadulla, Group Chairman and Managing Director of KIMSHEALTH, asked me if I would be interested in joining the company that he is one of the founders of. After continuous discussions, I decided to move from the US to the Middle East and join KIMSHEALTH as a Chief Medical Officer and subsequently transition into the role of CEO -Middle East CEO, progressing to Group CEO - India and Middle East presently.

Please give us a brief overview of KIMSHEALTH and the services that you provide?

From 2002, KIMSHEALTH has distinctly spread over two geographies i.e. India and the Middle East region. KIMSHEALTH has a total of 23 institutions comprising hospitals and medical centres spread over Kerala in India, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE. KIMSHEALTH also operates Airport Clinics at the new Muscat International Airport.

KIMSHEALTH has a combined bed strength of around 1,860 with over 75 per cent occupancy throughout the year. It employs over 900 doctors and 3,200 nursing and allied health staff, who consult and care for around 7,000 outpatients per day. 

In terms of education, KIMSHEALTH offers 20 DNB (Diplomate of National Board) programmes in addition to fellowship and international courses in various specialties and super specialities. We also have a College of Nursing providing Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Nursing. Our KIMSHEALTH Institute for Skills Acquisition (KISA) provides a range of courses for aspiring paramedics. Doctors can also avail Internal Medicine Training (IMT) from the Royal College of Physicians, London. 

What are the challenges you face in running KIMSHEALTH?

Our focus has always been on delivering quality and patient safety in all the countries that we are present. Indeed, operating in six countries is always challenging, however, our diverse patient population is looked after well by our multi-cultural staff. Through our network, we are able to provide the continuum of healthcare delivery from primary to secondary, tertiary, quaternary, post-acute, and home care. We have also developed and deployed several systems to ensure patient safety and high standards of clinical excellence and technology for better customer experience.  

How has KIMSHEALTH fared in the last 18 years ?

KIMSHEALTH has been operational in the Middle East since 2004 and all of our brands have been well received and recognised as quality healthcare institutions with a wide patient base. In the Middle East, we have three multispecialty hospitals namely - Royal Bahrain Hospital (RBH) and KIMSHEALTH Hospital in Bahrain and KIMS Oman Hospital (KOH) in Oman. We also have 13 multispecialty medical centers spread across Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

What is your vision and where do you see yourself in the next five years?

We want to touch more lives and be able to deliver healthcare into the community and explore different models of healthcare delivery.

In India, we are expanding our presence in Trivandrum by adding in another 275 beds to our main hospital - The East Tower. Once operational, it will become one of the largest private hospitals in the state of Kerala with a capacity of 1,000 beds.

Equipped with the latest medical equipment, the Tower would host four new state-of-the-art operating theatres, transplant units, besides dedicated floor for mother and child care, cosmetology and plastic surgery. The new tower would also house our international patients care team that would address needs for IPR patients from their home till they journey back.

We are also setting up a new multi-specialty hospital in Nagercoil in the district of Tamil Nadu in addition to multiple retail outlets and medical centers across Kerala. 

Since 2019, we have launched an affordable hospital in Umm Al Hassam, two new medical centres in Muharraq and Askar in Bahrain and one in Al Khuwair in Muscat, Oman.

KIMS recently underwent a brand change? What are the new things should one expect from it?

After two decades of dedicated service, we felt the need to reinvent the brand and have a new name, look and philosophy. Our new brand promise is - 'One Brand, One Experience' across all our centres in India and the Middle East. In terms of our new brand identity, each arrow in the new design represents one of our core values. Our core values include - Compassion, Affordability, Ethics, Quality, Excellence, Transparency, Innovation and Trust. The eight arrows are directed towards the centre because at the center of all that we do is our patients. The red colour symbolises our strength, determination and passion.

How do you view the healthcare sector growth, going forward?

In terms of healthcare, rapidly growing lifestyle diseases and an ageing population are encouraging investments in long-term rehabilitation, specialised clinics and home healthcare providers. Drivers of healthcare delivery have changed over the years. We have seen an increase in insurance penetration and that has altered the way healthcare is delivered.

Also, technology will play a key role in how healthcare is delivered over the next five years as there is a visible transformation across the healthcare sector and the role of the private sector is becoming more apparent. Already, home monitoring is becoming so widely accessible. Plenty of wearable devices are available which can track various vital signs. All these gadgets can be linked to Hospital Information Management systems.

What kind of changes in healthcare sector should one expect post-Covid-19?

We have already witnessed a steep increase in the acceptance and usage of Telehealth during the Covid-19 period. This trend is expected to continue further. Most importantly, medical institutions will decentralise their care model and engage in spreading out through satellite clinics in order to exercise greater community presence and localisation.

What are the key leadership initiatives you have taken thus far?

There are four key focus areas which we have chosen to augment our growth and quality focus across entities as under: 

 

Dr Sheriff M. Sahadulla is a highly skilled physician with over 20 years of experience in clinical medicine and hospital operations.

He was based in Boston, US where he held multiple leadership positions including his appointment as the President of Medical Staff at a multi-speciality hospital and Regional Medical Director for a national healthcare management company.

Dr Sheriff is well regarded as a clinician leader earning numerous accolades for his quality and patient-centric care. In 2011 and 2014, he was named a 'Top Doctor' by New Hampshire magazine. He has also been the recipient of the prestigious TeamHealth Regional Medical Director/Vice President of the year award in 2014. 

Dr Sheriff was appointed the Group Chief Executive Officer of KIMSHEALTH in 2019.

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