Spearheading disruptive innovation in Oncology

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a lethal dent in the delicate fabric of the Indian healthcare sector in multiple ways. During its peak phases, it ruthlessly relegated other critical illnesses like cardiac ailments, cancer, diabetes, and chronic renal failure to the background. Consequently, the risk of collateral damage loomed large, both from low patient footfalls owing to logistical issues, and overburdened caregivers attending to Covid cases in mission-critical mode. Cancer patients were among the worst affected as delayed diagnosis increased the overall costs of treatment and reduced survival spans.

At HCG, we not only weathered the macro-environmental challenges of these turbulent times but also emerged stronger as a visionary leader in the oncology domain. We astutely restructured our operations, enforced austerity measures, and rescheduled capital expenditure to improve performance and cash flows, thereby enhancing the future prospects and strength of our brand and business. Our sterling conviction and dogged determination has reflected itself in a stellar financial performance for 2QFY22. We achieved a net profit of ₹103.1 crore on a revenue of ₹352 crore, marking a growth of 42.0 percent (YoY) and 8.9 percent (QoQ).

Talking of the healthcare industry as a whole, all stakeholders must collectively strive to move up the value chain of disruptive innovation to lock horns with future health challenges like the pandemic. In the context of oncology, it is imperative to draw enlightening patterns from biological and clinical data for timely interventions – both preventive and therapeutic – that can then be tailored to individual patient needs. We also need to study patient data more closely than ever before, including personal and family information, genetic profiles, history of disease and disorder, and even statistical outliers.

Going forward, all healthcare entities will have to work on the cusp and crosstalk of game-changing paradigms, including digital diagnostics, IoT and Cloud, ultra-fast scans, wearables, blockchain, digital therapies, big data, nano health, AI health, hackathons, system learning, and robotics. With many radical outcomes like biomarkers, a new era of precision and personalised medicine is about to be unleashed. Likewise, a probe into genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics will help gene-side medicine progress alongside bedside medicine.

Tons of raw data has been India’s Achilles heel for long. Clean data is critical for the velocity, volume, veracity, variety, variability, visualization, and value of big data and supercomputer-powered analytics, yielding sustainable and measurable outcomes in mission-critical areas like proteomics. With clean and actionable data alone, digital health will be able to make the most of analytical techniques to capture and analyze huge and complex datasets to impact patientcare outcomes and optimize business processes.

It is heartening to note that the government has issued prudent guidelines for the promotion of research and innovation through data exchange, thereby highlighting the long-pending need for a holistic framework for the scrupulous, seamless, and responsible management of biological data.

The ensuing data democratization, integrity, and interoperability will undoubtedly stimulate collaborative research and focused academia-industry interaction in key biotech areas, thereby placing India on the forefront of experiential learning and disruptive innovation.

Having said that, mere abundance of technologies can never be a solution in itself. It is the intelligent deployment of technology that alone will help us serve the larger cause of healthcare. Whether Linac technology, Cyclotron equipment, Cyberknife system, Robotic surgery, Microsoft Hololens, or virtual consultations, every technological milestone at HCG is focused on patient outcomes. The paradigm called intelligent efficiency is as pivotal as Artificial Intelligence. What I like most about this term is that it does not undermine the value of human insight and intervention.

In a hospital setting, this translates into a holistic approach to patient care – from pre-admission to post-discharge – aimed at enhancing outcomes, lowering costs, and improving resource management, based on risk and severity of the disease.

I believe we are today at an inflection point, on the back of a strong turnaround witnessed across our new centers, and our growing brand equity as a niche healthcare provider. I have no doubt in my mind that our disruptive innovation in the oncology domain will help HCG deliver the best healthcare facilities to patients in India and abroad.