Since taking over the helm as the youngest chairman of Ceylon Hospitals PLC two decades ago, he has taken Durdans Hospital through several strategic initiatives that saw the organisation restructure for greater efficiencies, list on the Colombo Stock Exchange, and set up Durdans Heart Centre and establish Durdans Hospital Sixth Lane Wing, among others. He discusses his creative problem solving, the challenges facing the healthcare industry in Sri Lanka and growth opportunities for the future.
How does a person from an accounting and finance background successfully lead a healthcare organisation?
Initially, I wanted to study architecture, but on being told that it is a very long process, I decided that accounting was the next best option, especially as the profession was booming all over the world in the late 70s and early 80s. I started my career as a director of Tudawe Brothers, getting involved in the finance division, developing efficient systems and procedures, and bringing in computerisation in the mid-80s. I was a non-executive director at Durdans since 1987, and took over as chairman in 1990 following the passing away of my father, who was the chairman for seven years before me. Subsequently, I took over more responsibilities as the executive chairman of Durdans from 1994.
The healthcare sector at that time in Sri Lanka was not developed, but I had observed what was happening overseas, even in the Asia-Pacific region and India. I decided that Sri Lanka too must move forward. The organisation had no formal planning at that time although it had evolved for nearly 50 years. I firmly believed in strategic management and planning. By adopting the M&A strategy at the very outset of the restructuring process, I managed to take the organisation to a differentiated platform.
I have taken Durdans through a number of strategic initiatives, including successfully listing on the Colombo Stock Exchange. The strategic initiatives implemented enabled Durdans Hospital to become the foremost healthcare provider in Sri Lanka, and transformed the hospital into a centre of excellence.
My combined knowledge in accounting and finance, together with my entrepreneurial skills, thinking out of the box and calculated risk taking as a challenge, have helped me ensure that Durdans continues to be at the forefront of health care, from setting up Durdans Heart Centre in 1998, which revolutionised coronary care in Sri Lanka, to becoming the first Sri Lankan hospital to receive the ultimate healthcare accreditation – Joint Commission International’s (JCI of USA) Gold Seal of Approval in June 2014. Furthermore, Durdans has performed the largest series of beating heart surgical procedures in Sri Lanka, and was the first to perform ASD Closure and 1st Ulna Artery Angiogram, and the first to introduce Endoscopic Vein Harvesting for CABG. To date, our team at the Heart Centre has performed over 10,000 cardiac surgical procedures.
[pullquote]“My combined knowledge in accounting and finance, together with my entrepreneurial skills, thinking out of the box and calculated risk taking as a challenge, have helped me ensure that Durdans continues to be at the forefront of health care.”[/pullquote]
What are the challenges facing the healthcare industry in Sri Lanka, and how do you deal with them at Durdans?
Health care is a non-programmable situation. Circumstances change from patient to patient, caregiver to caregiver, so unless you have good, measurable standards, delivery will vary from person to person. This is one reason we worked towards the JCI accreditation for Durdans. We make sure the patient is looked after well at every single touchpoint.
In Sri Lanka, there is a lack of qualified staff and high attrition rates. We don’t have enough nurses, medical officers and specialists. At Durdans, we have our own nursing care training school that offers a three-year programme, which is a significant investment on our part. Nurses in particular have high attrition rates, either leaving for competition or overseas, or dropping out altogether when they get married. Since 2008, we at Durdans have focused on recruiting resident specialists, those returning to Sri Lanka after completing their postgraduate studies.
We also work on continuous professional development across the organisation, make sure we provide a good work environment, and ensure that our employees have a sense of ownership of the place through various initiatives and by giving them leadership opportunities.
Health care is a complex sector. Emotions and stress run high for both patient and serving officer, so customer service is a big differentiator. How do you ensure that Durdans offers good customer service?
When someone is unwell and they come to a hospital in a highly emotional state, more understanding is required from the caregivers. They pay a significant amount of money and are obviously going to be unhappy if they get frustrated.
We provide training to our staff to ensure that they empathise and understand what the patient and family are going through, so that there is customer focus from the time patients enter the hospital till they leave it. In fact, customer focus runs through every process of our organisation, from finance to back-office work, not just touchpoints.
What are top growth areas for Sri Lanka’s healthcare industry and how does Durdans plan to tap into these?
There is more scope for dental, plastic and cosmetic surgical procedures, and laparoscopic surgery. Sri Lanka is improving rapidly with laparoscopic surgery. We have the latest technology in place, and as a result, procedure times are being cut down drastically. In fact, we are in the process of turning our Sixth Lane Wing Hospital into a state-of-the-art surgical care hospital. Medical tourism is yet another sector to focus on for future growth, although we are already focused on countries like the Maldives and Bangladesh. With Sri Lanka experiencing a boom in the tourism industry, we could expand to the Seychelles and the UAE.