By Ranjana Kakodkar

These days, if you board a flight to India, chances are the passengers on either side of you, are not headed to see our temples or palaces, but, are travelling to undergo a complex medical procedure.

If you strike up a conversation with the lady on your left, she will probably narrate in detail, how she waited for three years or more, to have her knee operated upon in Canada’s overburdened healthcare system where queues such as these are common. Tired of the wait she finally elected to have her surgery performed in India, at a fraction of the cost and be attended on by world class doctors in a plush hospital. India is fast becoming a global health destination.

To maintain our global edge, our medical system, will have to provide a world class experience to its customers. The professionals who will lead this transformation will belong to the exciting new career of hospital management. Such a professional plans, directs, co-ordinates and supervises the delivery of health care services. From the moment a patient enters the portal of a hospital, has a consultation with a doctor, undergoes treatment, recovers and is discharged; it is the duty of the hospital administrator to make sure this flow of activity is smoothly handled.

A hospital management professional may be involved in all, or some of the functions, which go into the day-to-day running of a hospital. This would include: ensuring that a patient’s queries are handled efficiently, accurate billing for services, handling patient complaints and disputes, commiserating with bereaved families, managing hospital personnel, accounting and finance, quality control, marketing the hospital’s services, and handling the IT department as medical organisations are increasingly cutting costs by deploying IT effectively.

Obviously, as every activity is different, it requires a different temperament and skills. The qualities an aspiring professional would need are: good crisis management skills, quick decision making ability, a desire to be of service, high ethical standards and above all a love for the medical field. Some institutions require you to be an MBBS or nursing graduate before enrolling but others do not, and accept graduates from all backgrounds.

So for all of you out there, who love the hubbub of a hospital and the aura of the medical profession, this can be a very fulfilling career.