"If you believe inyour idea and have the courage to do it, don't let anyone tell you that you canfail. Of course, there is a chance of failing, but if you are able to createsomething of value, it will give you a sense of pride and accomplishment, whichis unmatched."Dr. Sujata Malik.
The growth of the home healthcare and healthcare consultancy industry in India in the last few years has been phenomenal. The evolution has been ludicrously rapid due to the butterfly effect of the amplified investments and expenditure in motion from the private and the public sector.
However, this industry is still in its infancy and has immense potential to grow exponentially.
Due to the increased investments in the healthcare sector, global investors have played quite an important role in pacing up the growth and making the health sector more organized. There is a growing need to increase the accessibility and affordability of reliable healthcare.
Dr. Sujata Malik, CEO, and Managing Director, of Sunburst Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. has managed to build an organization that aims to address many such problems that healthcare organizations face regularly and have very little dependable help available for the same.
These include, but are not limited to, service design, business development, practice management, process engineering, cost containment, pharmacy management, quality and Accreditation, and International business development.
It also aims at providing advice to consumers of healthcare, handholding them to access healthcare, based on insider information on best doctors, with an excellent record of accomplishment of outcomes and compliance to best practices. It will also ensure obtaining fair prices for healthcare services to clients registered with it.
Dr. Sujata Malikis is a healthcare professional with rich experience as a clinician and a hospital and healthcare management person. An alumnus of Jabalpur Medical College, she started her career with the Army Medical Corps, as a Short Service Commission Officer.
She finished Post-graduation from Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences and spent the next 16 years as Medical Director of large, multi-specialty, tertiary care hospitals, like Ruby Hall Clinic Pune, Jehangir Hospital Pune, and Sakra World Hospital Bangalore.
Sunburst Healthcare Pvt Ltd came into being in November 2017. The company has two divisions, a Healthcare Management Consulting division, and a Home Healthcare division. So far, they have rendered hospital Consulting services to six hospitals and some IT companies.
In a conversation with Startup City Magazine, Dr.Sujata talks about her venture, business plans, ethos, and work culture. The industry and more,
Dr. Sujata: Working in various hospitals, I often felt that despite delivering whole-hearted effort, it was not possible to get the desired results, because the writ of the promoter is what mattered. I felt that at some point I would like to step out there and deliver something I believe in.
Smaller hospitals in India have very little concept of Quality in Healthcare while catering to the health needs of a very large segment of society. So there is a need to handhold them to bring them up-to-speed with the knowledge and best practices being adopted by larger hospitals.
Home Healthcare has also been something of interest since I felt that this mode of healthcare delivery could bring down healthcare costs and reduce the strain on already stretched resources.
Dr. Sujata: So we have two offerings- a B-to-B offering, which is the Healthcare Management Consulting division, and a B-to-C offering which is Home Healthcare.
Under our Healthcare Management Consulting division, we have hand-held small hospitals, to adopt and internalize Quality Management Systems, and achieve accreditation.
It is indeed satisfying to see 20-50 bedded hospitals being sensitized to these requirements and making sincere changes to their systems to align with these requirements.
We have also provided valuable insight into healthcare practices, to healthcare technology companies that are working on applications to facilitate healthcare delivery.
As for home health care, we started this division in July 2018. We offer end-to-end services, ranging from Patient Care Attendants, medical devices, nursing attendants and procedures, Doctor's visits, Nutritionists, ClinicalPsychologist, Pain Management, Palliative Care, Laboratory, and Pharmacy.
We have so far serviced about 500 patients with approximately 10000 individual services provided, with a high level of patient and family satisfaction.
Dr. Sujata: My Company is a boutique company with qualified personnel. We deliver high-quality service and evidence-based care to our customers.
Our customer-centricity and accessibility have won the trust of our clientele.
Dr. Sujata: Raising funds, I think is a challenge as far as businesswomen are concerned. Otherwise, I think any entrepreneur who is starting, male or female has to work hard to establish credibility and garner market share from existing players in the market.
Dr. Sujata: I start early, say around 6 am when I spend time replying to emails or at times simply doing some writing work, ex. drafting policies and procedures. Those 90 minutes for doing work, which needs thinking and reflecting.
Work at the office starts at 9 am, and then it is about attending to tactical issues. I always make it a point to spend time with my team and keep them motivated and focused. By 6:30 pm, I get home and ensure I spend time with my family and get some exercise.
Dr. Sujata: My clients are smaller hospitals and health tech companies, for the healthcare management consulting business. The clientele for the home healthcare division is patients with chronic illnesses.
Most often, it is the caregivers and families of these patients, who approach us and are the key stakeholders in the process of deciding the scope of our care and services.
We ensure an ongoing relationship with our clients, and there is a lot of discussion and interaction. We ensure they are partners in the process of providing care. Our compassion and availability for resolving any issues make us preferred partners over time.
Dr. Sujata: I agree, we are conditioned to think in a certain manner and most people doubt if a woman would pursue business over her family. However, I have seen many women, even younger ones, work with passion, and establish businesses with social impact, which are quite profitable as well.
Dr. Sujata: As of now, I am working on raising funding for my enterprise, so that I can have a full-fledged organization and scale up the business. I am looking for a good technology partner to enable easy access to our services.
Dr. Sujata: I do that with ease. I manage my time extremely well and ensure a good balance between my professional and family life. I love traveling with my husband and spending time with my three grandchildren.
Dr. Sujata: Entrepreneurship has taught me a lot. I have learned that a start-up is a lonely journey in the beginning. There will be naysayers and many will doubt you, but you have to have a firm conviction and belief in your idea, to make it successful.
Of course, you have to think with agility, to be able to take quick decisions and grab opportunities when you see them. Keeping overheads under control and multi-tasking are other skills that have worked well for me.
Sunburst Healthcare is only 18 months old and is already EBITDA-positive in a short period, and is 100 percent debt-free. They also can ensure a high degree of satisfaction with their clients and can retain them and this for them, is the biggest award.
In the coming years, they intend to consolidate the Pune market, over the next six months, acquire a technology platform, and then plan to expand to tier two and three cities, though possibly, a franchise network.
"All entrepreneursface challenges in their journey. Women entrepreneurs at my age, experiencethis a little more, but once people realise you know what you are doing, andare serious about it, your credibility in the market grows."Dr. Sujata Malik.