Sparsh Hospital was designed with a single proposition - to develop a healthcare practice that sets a brand-new benchmark for quality, consistency, and delivery of healthcare services, while developing a way to make them affordable, and accessible to all.

Sparsh Hospital was designed with a single proposition - to develop a healthcare practice that sets a brand-new benchmark for quality, consistency, and delivery of healthcare services, while developing a way to make them affordable, and accessible to all. It is a hospital dedicated to orthopedics, trauma, plastic surgery and maxillo facial surgery. It was founded by its Chairman and chief orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Sharan Shivaraj Patil. The hospital has grown into a vibrant, specialty medical center, and patient orientation, social responsibility, and best-in-class clinical practices and research, will remain its cornerstones.

The hospital is staffed by medical, nursing, and support teams, who have worked at some of the leading national and international medical centers, which practice the very latest in medical science; and it is supported by an infrastructure that has been set up to ensure the very best in the delivery of medical care. On-site world class equipment, operation suites, technology, and communication systems, are also leveraged to deliver quality healthcare, with care and compassion. To further future-proof the hospital, architecturally the hospital was designed to become a 'flexi' hospital, where the entire hospital can be converted into a mass casualty center in the case of major incidents. The hospital is also recognized by the discerning Central Government Health Scheme, State Government Health Scheme, Ex-Servicemen Health Scheme, and numerous corporations, including many from the top 100 in the country. The hospital is recognized by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and National Board of Examinations, for post graduate medical teaching in orthopedics, plastic surgery, and anesthesia. Fellowships in arthroplasty, trauma, hand, and microvascular surgery are being conducted at the institute.

Since its inception, the hospital has been making progress in the quality and quantity of work being done. At present, the hospital is averaging on more than 350 surgeries per month. Growing from strength to strength, the hospital is now accredited by the National Accreditation Board of Hospitals'a division of the Quality Council of India. Sparsh Hospital was the first super-specialty orthopedic hospital in the country to achieve this distinction.

Mission

The mission of Sparsh hospital is to be the finest musculo-skeletal care hospital in the world, with a human touch.

Vision

• To be committed to educating and partnering with our patients in making decisions at every stage
• To ensure that the clinical practice is of the highest integrity, and evidence based
• To leverage teaching, research, and innovation, as tools to bring world class care within the reach of all.

Departments

• Orthopedics: Trauma, arthroplasty/joint replacement center, pediatric orthopedics, spinal surgery and deformity correction, sports medicine, and reconstructive surgery orthopedic oncology
• Plastic surgery: Cosmetic surgery, reconstructive surgery, and microvascular surgery
• Maxillofacial surgery: Trauma, orthognathic surgery, and cosmetic surgery
• Neurosugery: Trauma
• Anesthesia and intensive care: Regional anesthesia, and pain clinic.

Services and facilities in all of these departments are provided 24 hours a day. The hospital has general wards, semi-private, deluxe, and VIP suites, a large trauma ICU, and a high-dependency unit. International services are provided, with all care becoming involved as a one-point contact (travel visa/pick up and drop off at the airport). Replies to queries are answered within 24 hours, and ambulance services are also available 24 hours a day. The hospital has corporate affiliations with over 200 corporations.

Infrastructure

• Ventilators from Draeger
• Operating lights from Hanaulux and Dr. Lite
• Syringe pumps from Braun and Frasenius
• Monitors from Draeger and L&T
• Orthopedic systems from Aesculap, Stryker, Bell surgical, and ATR
• Radiology from Siemens, GE, and Fuji
• Facility management is out sourced to Akkaya Consultancy, Bangalore
• Support services, housekeeping, and security are outsourced.

The micro vascular and plastic services unit is focused on creating a center of excellence in this specialty, with many unique and technologically challenging cases to its credit. In addition to this, with the development of the cosmetic surgery unit, the micro vascular and plastic services unit is now an integrated full-service unit. The Hospital has achieved great distinction for its work in pediatric orthopedics, arthroplasty, spinal surgery, sports medicine, limb reconstruction/ lengthening, and micro vascular reconstructive surgery. It is supported by extremely competent and resourceful anesthesia and critical care teams.

Statistics

• Average annual budget: Rs. 25 crore for the new project alone
• Number of beds: 120 beds; planned 400 beds
• Admissions: 4,500 admissions per year
• Surgeries: 4,000 per year
• In-patient and out-patient workloads: 25,000 out-patients per year
• Rate of hospitalization: 1 in 6 patients

Medical milestones/key achievements

One key achievement was the successful surgery performed on a conjoined ischiopagus parasiticus twin in 2007, which received international recognition and was covered by every newspaper. Lakshmi Tatma, and Sparsh Vachana, two major events organized by the Sparsh foundation, are being carried out every year for about 200 physically challenged children, where all the costs of surgery and treatment are borne by the Sparsh foundation. In addition, Sparsh Guru Namana, where 100 retired school teachers received free knee replacements, was carried out.

Initiatives in emerging areas

The Sparsh foundation has launched the following programs:

• Hejje Guruthu - The free, sustainable club foot treatment program, in partnership with the Government of Karnataka, focusing on the identification, correction, and treatment of clubbed feet.
• Children in Need - An intervention program, which funds children who require complex and extensive clinical interventions. A case that we did two years ago on an ischiopagus twin, Laxmi Tatma, made headlines worldwide, due to its uniqueness and complexity. This is a program that we are committed to expand in scope. Our efforts in this regard earned the appreciation of the honorable Indian Prime Minister, Shri Manmohan Singhji.
• Sparsh Vachana - A program where more than 200 physically challenged children are operated upon, free-of-cost, every year, including very complex surgeries. Teams of highly specialized doctors from the UK, USA, and from all over India, are participating in this program.
• Sparsh Guru Namana - An event recently conducted, where about 100 retired teachers with no health insurance were provided free knee joint replacements, including the cost of implants.

Future administrative plans

Sparsh hospital now feels a need to expand both, its services and facilities, to other locations in Bangalore and India. In this context, it plans to build numerous tertiary and secondary care, orthopedic, and trauma care hospitals throughout the country within the next decade.

On organization's growth plans

Sparsh hospital is a unit of Shiva and Shiva hospitals, Bangalore. The Chairman is Dr. Sharan Patil. Its second unit is a 6,000 square foot, OPD clinic facility, in the heart of Bangalore city. Its third unit is planned to commence from early 2011.

On planned budgetary allocations

The planned budgetary allocation for the new project is Rs. 25 crore, and the budget for medical equipment and furniture is about Rs. 15 crore.

On procurement plans

• Medical equipment and devices: OT and ICU equipment, furniture, and air conditioning.
• Utilities: HMS, all equipment required to set up a purely orthopedic, plastic surgery, and neurosurgery hospital
• Mode of procurement: As the project is being implemented at a rapid pace both tenders, and direct buying will take place

On suggestions to sellers and buyers

When we procure equipment, we look at the reliability, the technology (both current and future), the service track record, and maintenance costs. We also need to buy products which are very cost effective. The sellers must meet these criteria, and also provide excellent after sales service.

On future plans

We have an existing 6,000 square foot, OPD clinic facility, in an exclusive area of central Bangalore. We are planning to open our next 76,000 square foot hospital in the next year, specializing in orthopedics, plastic surgery, trauma, and neurosurgery.

On initiatives taken

We are part of the famed Narayana health city, and we have a common department for medical tourism, for both domestic and international patients. Telemedicine was pioneered at this campus, and we are now linked to dozens of centers all across India, and abroad in Europe, Africa, and South East Asia.

On role of government

We see the government encouraging the spread of accreditation throughout the healthcare system; and partnering with the private health care providers, in the effort to reach out to more people, and providing good health care, for which we would be happy to become partners in.