KIMSHEALTH East is being launched as one of the largest facilities in Kerala – complete with a green design, 10 floors, 275 beds, an international patient lounge, executive dining, retail outlets, and more
By: Jayata Sharma
KIMSHEALTH needs no introduction. It is one of the largest healthcare groups, mainly with a presence in South India and the Middle East. Recently, they announced plans to launch KIMS East in Kerala. The project, spread over 10 floors and 4.5 lakh square feet of built-up area, is being built as a state-of-the-art premium facility.
In an exclusive interview with Dr. Sheriff Sahadulla, Group Chief Executive Officer KIMSHEALTH Group, we try and find out more about the upcoming project and what makes the group a business success.
Dr. Sheriff Sahadulla is a physician with over 20 years of experience in clinical medicine and hospital operations. He was earlier based in Boston, USA where he held multiple leadership positions including his appointment as President of the Medical Staff at a multi-specialty hospital and Regional Medical Director for a national healthcare management company.
Dr. Sheriff is American Board Certified in Internal Medicine, a Senior Fellow of Hospital Medicine and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London). He obtained his medical degree from Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts and his post graduate training in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbour, Michigan.
Dr. Sheriff is well regarded as a clinician leader earning numerous accolades for his quality and patient centered care. In 2011 and 2014, he was named the 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 the KIMSHEALTH Group in 2019.
In a chat with us, he shares more about the forthcoming project – KIMSHEALTH East.
How did the idea of KIMSHEALTH East come up?
Since 2002, we have kept our patients at the heart of our care and have committed ourselves to providing quality and affordable healthcare. We cater to over 2.5 million national and international patients annually, through our multi-disciplinary team of over with 900 doctors and 6,000 healthcare professionals. From 2002, KIMSHEALTH has distinctly spread over two geographies i.e., India and the Middle East region and has a total of 23 institutions comprising hospitals and medical centers in Kerala (India), Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE in the Middle East region.
KIMSHEALTH East is an addition to the existing KIMSHEALTH facility in Trivandrum, and will take our total bed strength to 930. It is a state-of-the-art facility offering more specialties and new services. Our objective is to provide quality patient experience and we look forward to serving a larger section of the society.
What are the highlights of KIMSHEALTH East?
The project is a modern take on healthcare with premium facilities built on 4.5 lakh square feet of built-up area over 10 floors. The facility will host 170 inpatient rooms, which include normal rooms, junior suites and premium suites.
The ICUs are illuminated to support healing and clinical facilities. Our services include dermatology and cosmetology, plastic and cosmetic surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, high risk pregnancy and perinatology, neonatology, radiology, labor delivery areas, birthing suites, NICU, theatre complex, transplant, ICU and burn treatment rooms.
In addition, KIMSHEALTH East will also provide an international patient lounge, executive health check-ups, visa medicals, premium lounges, executive dining, retail outlets and a pharmacy.
Our new brand promise is – One Brand, One Experience across all our centers in India and the Middle East. This means, there will be uniformity in our offerings and services. In terms of our new brand identity, each arrow in the new design represents one of our core values.
How is KIMSHEALTH East different from the other KIMS facilities?
The new hospital will provide unmatched patient experience through the application of latest technology and services. In terms of infrastructure, we have ensured the KIMSHEALTH East is green and eco-friendly, has a contemporary design and architecture to handle patient flow efficiently. All this, backed by our two decades of healthcare expertise and excellence and patient management experience.
Tell us about the phases in which the hospital will be launched.
The hospital is opening in two phases. In the first phase, departments including dermatology & cosmetology, plastic & cosmetic surgery, obstetrics & gynaecology, high-risk pregnancy & foetal medicine, neonatology, visa medicals and executive check-up have moved up to KIMSHEALTH East.
In the second phase, departments like multi-organ transplant, cardiac and neurosurgery, paediatric cardiac surgery, robotic surgery and burn treatment will commence operations.
Which latest technologies are a part of KIMSHEALTH East?
All of our institutions in India and the Middle East are equipped with the best IT support systems. Our hospital management systems ensure that all medical records are electronically maintained. We have also developed and deployed several systems to ensure patient safety and high standards of clinical excellence and technology for better customer experience.
Some of the prominent array of services linked to new technology include – Internet of Things (IoT) platform, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based laboratory sample management and cloud-based Hospital Information System (HIS). We will also be introducing robotic surgeries, going forward.
In the current times, Indian healthcare is facing an acute shortage of clinical & other hospital staff. How will you ensure enough staff at KIMSHEALTH East?
KIMSHEALTH is an employer of choice and features high on most preferred place to work. Our base in Kerala is well supported by abundant medical and non-medical talent available in the state. Added to this, is our extensive human resource network and support from our educational institutions, whereby we offer 20 DNB (Diplomate of National Board) programs in addition to fellowship and international courses in various specialties and super specialties. 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.
Thus, manpower is not an issue for us.
Tell us more about your training programs…
In the current scenario, it is extremely imperative that healthcare professionals are trained and updated with the latest information regarding COVID-19 and other areas. KIMSHEALTH has a partnership with iPC Health for a Resource Centre, which was established at the start of the pandemic. The Resource Centre helps healthcare professionals with free online training material that can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
In fact, KIMSHEALTH will be the first medical facility that will seamlessly integrate the iPC Health platform with their Human Resources Management System, making it quick and easy for our staff to access the training content and resources that the platform provides.
Kindly tell us about some employee-engagement programs that you run.
KIMSHEALTH always had an open-door policy towards employees. For instance, our Town Hall meeting is a forum for the employees to interact with the leadership and voice their concerns. However, in the present COVID-19 times, the same is being done through video conferencing. We have also been hosting Annual Cultural Gatherings and Good Samaritan programs, in addition to Eupheus, an online learning platform for our employees.
Why is the focus only on Kerala? Do you have plans to spread out as well?
Kerala will always be our main territory, as our flagship hospital and our global headquarters are based out of Trivandrum. Although, we are expanding and looking at new projects in southern parts of India.
KIMS recently underwent a brand change exercise to KIMSHEALTH. What are the new things should one expect from it?
Over the years, KIMS has earned an exemplary reputation for its quality of service, care and affordability. 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 centers in India and the Middle East. This means, there will be uniformity in our offerings and services. 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 8 arrows are directed towards the center because at the center of all that we do are our patients. The red color symbolizes our strength, determination and passion.
