A one-day national conference on Gen-X Hospital Management Mantras was organized by the Department of Hospital Administration at the Amrita School of Medicine on April 2, 2012.

Titled NOVUS 2012, the conference included didactic sessions delivered by experts in the field of healthcare administration.

The session commenced with a talk by Mr. Sunil Kumar, Chief Operating Officer of the Narayana Hrudayalaya Health City, Bangalore.

Speaking about operational excellence in healthcare, he asserted that the focus should be on the need of the customers, empowering the employees and optimising existing activities.

“Most organizations can plan, very few can implement. Implementation is key for achieving excellence. Prioritize and implement that first which has the highest priority,” he said.

Dr. D. K. Sharma, Medical Superintendent of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, spoke next. Elaborating on laws applicable to management of patients, hospitals, drugs, safety issues in hospital premises, employment of staff and environment safety, he underlined, “Laws related to health and hospitals help healthcare teams function with maximum efficiency.”

Others who spoke included Mr. Samuel N. J. David, Senior Personnel Manager and Coordinator of Healthcare Management Programmes from Christian Medical College, Vellore and Dr. Vimalkumar Govindan, Medical Director at the PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Coimbatore.

While the former shed light on competencies in human resources management, the latter explained the need for accrediation, emphasizing that the focus should be on continuous improvement of health services.

Dr. Uma Nambiar, CEO of the Global Health City, Chennai also spoke. “We have to deliver business excellence if we are to be the leaders. We need to create our own brand. Branding helps in building the image of the organization.”

Mr. Joy Chakraborty, Director-Administration, P. D. Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai and Dr. S. K. Jawahar, Senior Administrator, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram also shared their insights with the participants.

Paper presentations by students as well as cultural events followed the expert sessions.

“The conference provided us with the recent updates in the field of healthcare administration. Many thanks to Amrita for organizing NOVUS – 2012,” remarked Ms. Shilpa who attended from Sree Narayana Institute of Medical Sciences, Ernakulam.

April 9, 2012
School of Medicine, Kochi