CEO Discusses Quality of Care in India

On Tuesday, Oct. 21, the Department of Health Systems Administration and the Department of International Health, both at NHS, hosted Vishal Bali, chief executive officer of Wockhardt Hospitals in India.

Bali addressed, “Health Care: India’s Challenges and Opportunities,” at the event, which was held in the Bunn Intercultural Center.

As CEO, Bali oversees one of India’s largest health care providers with a national network of 15 super-specialty hospitals. He is responsible for driving corporate strategy, value growth, and expansion of the chain across India.

Gary Filerman, chair of the Department of Health Systems Administration, introduced Bali. He says he first learned about the guest speaker’s reputation in The Economist magazine.

“They did a pretty sizable story on the whole issue on purchasing lower cost, high quality health care abroad, however that was defined,” Filerman said. “Their network is wonderful. You know that if The Economist goes to somebody for input, that’s somebody whose input one needs to watch.”

“When I learned that [Bali] was going to be in Washington, I jumped at the opportunity to have him come here and visit with us,” Filerman said.

Bali—throughout his 18-year career at the group—has advanced through a series of leadership roles. Besides serving on the company’s board, he also serves on the advisory board of Harvard Medical International.

At the Georgetown event, Bali discussed efforts to improve quality of care in India—which has a population of more than 1 billion people—in light of a variety of challenges such as health care workforce migration.

“Everybody is now looking at creating a system which is not just one or two hospitals, but a large network,” he said. “Obviously when this kind of growth begins to happen, the big issue, which concerns all of us, is where are the people.”

“We can create these fancy looking buildings,” he said. “But where are the doctors and where are the nurses.”

Nurses, for example, are graduating in India, but working in the United States and other countries, he said, adding that every two years nearly 80 percent of the nursing staff moves to another country.

“If the medical migration of the workforce is going to happen at such a rapid pace, then it is all the more critical for us to develop a new methodology, ensuring that we have a regular talent pipeline that comes into the system,” he said.

Some strategies, Bali noted, to deal with the shortages of doctors and nurses include opening additional nursing schools and recognizing more of the country’s hospitals as teaching institutions for physician training.

Future challenges, he said, involve structuring new enterprises from a people-perspective and developing an infrastructure to support medical personnel in smaller cities throughout the country. His own organization plans to open 15 more hospitals by 2011.

“It’s not an uncomplicated story,” Filerman said. “But in the middle of it are a handful of visionary entrepreneurs who are really great promoters of quality [and] expansion of services and access. They are creating a small revolution in India.

Said Filerman: “One of them is Vishal.”