JAIPUR: When Covid broke out in March 2020, it was a moment of truth for most private hospitals. Like everybody on the planet, the hospitals, doctors and paramedics were also not only scared but confused. In those early days, some hospitals refused to take Covid patients, while others played safe by shutting down operations.
Those options were gnawing at Dr Vikas Chandra Swarankar’s conscience. He had taken the mantle of Mahatma Gandhi University of Medical Sciences and Technology (MGUMST) just a year before from his illustrious father Dr M L Swarankar, the soughtafter IVF specialist that childless couples pin hopes on.
“My uncle RR Soni and I went to him and asked for his guidance.
He knew the situation that was playing around and said, ‘If you keep the patients at the centre of all your decisions, everything will fall into place. ’ He suggested that we write to the state government for making Mahatma Gandhi Medical College & Hospital (MGMC&H) a Covid care facility. That’s how we became the first designated Covid hospital in the state,” recalls Dr Vikas.
The rest is history as Dr Vikas says with the pandemic spreading like wildfire, the hospital had to dedicate 1,000 beds, including 400 in ICU category. Also, it hosted the first RTPCR lab in private sector testing about 3 lakh samples.
Dr Vikas says the patient or student-centric (since it is a medical college as well) commitment and vision has been the founding pillars, which have made it what it is today, offering about 40 specialty and super-specialty services.
The growth of Dr Vikas, 37, runs parallel to MGMC&H which was set up in 2001 by his father after the state government opened medical education to the private sector in 1998.
When Dr Vikas was selected for Armed Forces Medical College in 2003, his grandfather asked Dr M L Swarankar why he should not study in MGMC&H. By then, the medical college had 100 undergraduate seats with a hospital of 600 beds.
“I not only grew up watching my father achieve spectacular feats like delivering the first test-tube baby in 1989 in north India in our facility, but there were many other aspects including clinical and ethical that became my inheritance. By the time I completed my MBBS in 2008, and MS in General Surgery in 2011, MS in gynaecology, all in this university, I grew deeper into the operations both clinically and administratively,” says Dr Vikas.
While the medical education was in fine fettle, Dr Vikas says the hospital got a renewed focus since 2011. “A good hospital adds immensely to education. That’s why from 2011 onwards, we made huge resource allocations to expand the capacity and specialty services. Today, MGMC&H has the highest number of beds (1,450) in Rajasthan having 500 doctors, 1,000 paramedical staff and 3,000 employees. The plan is to have 2,500 beds in the next five years,” he reveals.
Alongside the hospital, MGUMST kept adding super specialty degree courses for oncology, surgical gastroenterology, radiation oncology, palliative care, and interventional radiology.
Listed among select few medical colleges for performing all kinds of organ transplants, including many for the first time in Rajasthan, the hospital has performed over 1,300 kidney (highest by any private hospital in Rajasthan) and 25 liver transplants.
“Reputation comes when you offer specialty services. We have created separate towers for cancer, cardiac and neurosurgery, and the largest blood centre in the state. Now, we are in the throes of making a new centre for digestive diseases, ranging from acidity to cancer which will have departments like gastro, hepatology, surgical gastroenterology, HPB surgery of liver and pancreas. The tower will be operational by 2024,” says Dr Vikas.
When it comes to positioning, Dr Vikas says he is committed to the vision of his father to run the hospital as an institution that serves all strata of people. “We want to build an institution like AIIMS. We are not a corporate hospital. We are one of the largest service providers to the state government’s Chiranjeevi Yojna. Before the scheme became operational, we used to give 25% of our beds free to economically weaker sections. Even the surgery was free. We charged only for medicines,” adds Dr Vikas.
Regarding Jaipur emerging as a medical tourism hub, Dr Vikas says that there are countries where people have better income levels than ours, but the medical infrastructure is not good, and they can be targeted.
“We can attract patients from African countries like Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana where people have better paying power than ours. Similarly, OPEC countries like Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria could be another block. In the southeast Asian region, countries like Laos, Fiji and Cambodia can also be tapped,” added Dr Vikas.
