You’d be forgiven for assuming Jasdeep Singh, Group CEO of CARE Hospitals, Quality CARE India Limited, comes from a medical background – but you’d be mistaken. “I’m not from a hospital background and I’m not a doctor,” he laughs. “It was very clear from day one that the journey was going to be hard work and a learning process.” He is from Jharkhand, a state in eastern India, and one that is still to catch up with the rest of the country, according to Jasdeep.
This experience shaped him and ingrained in him a passion for grassroots change. “The experiences I’ve had helped me focus on the changes made on the ground floor,” he shares. “That’s where the larger population is, and once you make a difference, people appreciate it significantly.”
Happy patients
Jasdeep feels that the brand experiences strong loyalty from people not only in the metro cities, but also those in developing yet high-potential cities like Raipur, Bhubaneswar and Nagpur, to name a few. “There is an incredible amount of potential here,” he explains. And it’s potential he’s determined to reach with his hospitals. In the next 6–12 months, he intends to improve the patient experience to ensure they want to return.
“For any organisation, there are reasons for existence. I want patient experience, patient care and technology advancements as the key reasons for our existence,” he says. “If we are able to demonstrate to our internal and external customers that we’re an organisation that focuses on patient care, experience and recovery, and not on money, I think we will stand out.”
Health care should not be about a business, Jasdeep points out. Although the industry does require a lot of investment, he believes that it should, first and foremost, be focused on the quality of care that is being provided, and the holistic experience of the patient. “When they walk out of the doors, they should be smiling and thinking, ‘Yeah, there was someone who looked after me, just like my family would.’ I think when healthcare organisations can achieve this, private health care will change the way people think about it,” he says.
A complex web
Even though he believes strongly that it shouldn’t be about business, Jasdeep himself is admittedly a businessman. “Historically, it was doctors who ran hospitals,” he agrees. But while healthcare providers should not be focused on business outcomes, they should be run like one. They have all the same needs and functions as a business, after all, and the person in charge “should handle departments and functions, and eventually, the hospital”, he explains.
As a specialist in one department, it is difficult to get a handle on how your work impacts the rest of the organisation. Similarly, without a varied experience working within the organisation itself, how can one fully appreciate the web of interdependencies? Fortunately, this breadth of experience is what Jasdeep brings to CARE Hospitals.
“With my movement into different departments and the training that I’ve had, I completely understand that,” he says. “It probably makes me more skilled to make a decision, which is beneficial to not just one department but to multiple departments, and the impact of one decision on others.” Perhaps that’s why he’s so focused on the people who work in his hospitals before anything else.
“If there’s a satisfied employee, they will go the extra mile to ensure the patient is having a positive experience. This only happens when our employees are happy,” he explains. However, Jasdeep adds that it’s also necessary to have dependable suppliers with whom he can build long-term relationships.
“These relationships are lifelong. No matter where I go, I will meet my suppliers because they are key players who form a part of our overall journey and success,” he insists. It’s obvious Jasdeep is passionate about the people he surrounds himself with daily.
“Obviously, I don’t work in isolation,” he smiles. “We have to partner with people and keep recognising them.” It’s been a wonderful journey, he says, and he’s grateful for the people who have mentored him and helped him along the way. But for the boy from Jharkhand, the success of CARE Hospitals all comes down to this: “I want happy and progressive doctors, and happy and loyal employees.” With such a philosophy, it is bound to thrive.
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