CASE STUDY: 3

MARKETING OF HYPER BARIC OXYGEN THERAPY AND DIVING MEDICINE DEPARTMENT AT GODREJ HOSPITAL

MARKETING OF HBOT DEPARTMENT

INTRODUCTION:
Godrej Memorial Hospital is often described as the gift that keeps giving. The latest on offer is the unique life & Limb saving- Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Centre located in the green patch at Vikhroli, Godrej Hospital provides affordable yet high quality service to all with no distinction. It is amongst the first few hospitals in the country to be accorded with both NABH & NABL accreditations. It comes as no surprise that Godrej is the first private hospital in Mumbai to set up a department of Underwater Medicine with Hyperbaric & Diving medicine sections with a large Multiplace Recompression Chamber for treatment as its flagship. Underwater Medicine & Hyperbaric oxygen (HBOT) not many would have heard of it, till recently, that is - Hyperbaric Oxygen is making waves at Godrej Memorial Hospital. Two thousand Hi Oxygen treatment sittings for more than two hundred patients in just one year of operations, underscores its enormous healing powers .

Hyperbaric medicine deals with physiological problems & therapeutic applications of barometric pressure greater than sea level. Hyperbaric Oxygenation (HBOT) is made possible by patients breathing 100% oxygen in a special chamber.

Common Hospital Usage of HBOT is for Diabetic wounds, (Diabetic foot) and healing of other problem wounds. Severe Crush injuries to limbs seen typically in serious road, rail or industrial accidents benefit from HBOT when selected with care. Radiation as part of cancer therapy may cause damage to soft tissues & bones. HBOT is of value in repair and control of symptoms. Severe rapidly spreading soft tissue infections including the dreaded Gas gangrene is another well documented area of HBOT utility. Thermal burns, Carbon monoxide poisoning, Smoke inhalation caused by fire accidents have much to gain from HBOT. Resistant bone infection (refractory osteomyelitis) or selected cases of severe fungal infections, HBOT may be worthwhile. Plastic surgeons find it convenient to provide HBOT to patients with compromised skin flaps & grafts.

Several Doctors and Hospitals in central suburbs, Navi Mumbai & Thane are utilizing the Godrej HBOT facility to good effect already.

Occupational Disorders such as Decompression illness (DCI) may strike deep sea commercial Divers. DCI may also affect workers exposed to high ambient pressure during tunneling & building bridges & Dam sites, across water bodies. Rarely DCI may affect air crew as well. DCI has a plethora of symptoms ranging from joint pain to disabling vertigo or paralysis, the more serious cases may even end fatally.

Gas bubbles blocking major blood vessels i.e Arterial Gas Embolism (AGE) is another life threatening condition affecting commercial & sport diverse. DCI & AGE are best treated by therapeutic recompression including HBOT. Godrej Hospital has commenced tie up arrangements with diving institutes for medical cover to casualties.

NEED FOR THE MARKETING OF HBOT:

Godrej hospital being among the NABH accredited and hyperbaric therapy and diving medicine centre being the niche facility in the hospital, marketing of this department will help in all promotion of the hospital. In India, very few hospitals have HBOT centers, so promotion of this will help people across the country to know about the therapy and will be beneficial for them.

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
Current Market Condition Market Share Market (Enrollment) Trends Market Potential

Cost Implications

MARKETING PLAN OBJECTIVES

Internal Analysis

SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS OF HBOT AT GODREJ Godrej Memorial Hospital is the first private hospital in Mumbai to set up a
Multiplace chamber facility to provide patients with Hyperbaric Oxygen. This gives the department an edge over the other hospitals with HBOT facility.

Presently all three HBOT facilities in the city are located in South Mumbai. Godrej
Hospital at Vikhroli (East) would be a boon to doctors and patients from Central suburbs, Thane and beyond, Navi Mumbai, etc. Since the hospital is, open to all, out of station patients could obtain Indoor facility.

The hospital charges Rs.3000 per sitting of HBOT which is comparative less than the
other centres (jaslok hospital charges Rs.6000 per session)

The center is managed by a team of hyperbaric physicians with experience in HBOT,

has also trained chamber operators & in- chamber nurse attendants.

WEAKNESSES
No marketing strategies are there for HBOT department which is the niche facility of the hospital

OPPORTUNITIES
Since the hospital is NABH accredited there are opportunities to promote HBOT in medical tourism and spread awareness among the other countries.

THREATS
Many new individual HBOT centres are coming up in suburbs like thane and kalyan

EXTERNAL ANALYSIS

Industry analysis: In Mumbai currently the centres providing HBOT services are:
INHS Asvini, Colaba, Mumbai Jaslok Hospital Pedder Road, Mumbai Global Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Centre, Thane Global Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Centre, kalyan

Trends:
All these centre have mono place chambers and also INHS asvini being government hospital, it charges are very minimal but due to mono place chamber there is long list of waiting patients .

The most commonly treated cases are the diabetic wounds, non healing wounds, accident cases With godrej hospital having multiplace chamber it can treat six patients in one session and hence can treat large no. of patients effectively. In India , not much emphasis is given for treatment of neurological cases with the help of HBOT as not sufficient research is being done is this cases

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS:
Potential new entrants: Many new centres with mono place chambers are coming up in thane district

Threat of substitutes: In future, with the increasing demand for hyper baric therapy increases the value of substitutes like people may come having portable HBOT chambers at home which is already seen in many other countries.

TARGET MARKET:
Diabetes facts The prevalence of diabetes has reached epidemic proportions. WHO predicts that developing countries will bear the brunt of this epidemic in the 21st century. Currently, more than 70% of people with diabetes live in low- and middle income countries.

An estimated 285 million people, corresponding to 6.4% of the world's adult population, will live with diabetes in 2010. The number is expected to grow to 438 million by 2030, corresponding to 7.8% of the adult population.

While the global prevalence of diabetes is 6.4%, the prevalence varies from 10.2% in the Western Pacific to 3.8% in the African region. However, the African region is expected to experience the highest increase.

70% of the current cases of diabetes occur in low- and middle income countries. With an estimated 50.8 million people living with diabetes, India has the world's largest diabetes population, followed by China with 43.2 million.

The largest age group currently affected by diabetes is between 40-59 years. By 2030 this record is expected to move to the 60-79 age group with some 196 million cases.

Diabetes is one of the major causes of premature illness and death worldwide. Noncommunicable diseases including diabetes account for 60% of all deaths worldwide.

Lack of sufficient diagnosis and treatment

In developing countries, less than half of people with diabetes are diagnosed. Without timely diagnoses and adequate treatment, complications and morbidity from diabetes rise exponentially.

Type 2 diabetes can remain undetected for many years and the diagnosis is often made from associated complications or incidentally through an abnormal blood or urine glucose test.

Undiagnosed diabetes accounted for 85% of those with diabetes in studies from South Africa, 80% in Cameroon, 70% in Ghana and over 80% in Tanzania.

The financial burden borne by people with diabetes and their families as a result of their disease depends on their economic status and the social insurance policies of their countries. In the poorest countries, people with diabetes and their families bear almost the whole cost of the medical care they can afford.

Since the majority of cases of diabetic foot cases are seen, Hyper Baric Oxygen Therapy can be very beneficial in treatment of such cases Also, in many cases of radiation Injuries are seen. Many patients in godrej being treated on this have shown positive results. And seen the increasing no.of cases of radiation injuries, many will be benefited by this therapy.

PLANNING THE OBJECTIVES:

According to studies done on the patient perception and awareness, it was observed that the patient need the following things with regards to the HBOT services:

1. Convenience Access to care (available/timely appointments) Location and proximity Promptness (seen on time)

2. Communication listen take time with patient explain procedures, have good communication skills All doubts and queries are answered

3. Compassion Care and concern Friendly Treat patient with respect Treat patient as an individual

4. Competence Knowledge Reputation Experience Qualified Professional

5. Cost low cost State of art technology Facility amenities / clean

ACTION PROGRAMS
AWARENESS ACTIVITIES:

For doctors
Continuing medical education programs for physicians of the hospital and other hospital . This will help in not only educating the doctors about HBOT facility and its benefits but also getting referrals from them.

For community
Having tie ups with the Indian embassies in abroad, this will not only help in medical tourism for the hospital and promotion of HBOT in godrej hospital but also will create awareness among the people in all countries.

Awareness camps can be held in the nearby multispecialty hospitals for both the doctors and patients, mainly the diabetic patients.

PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMS

Basic pamphlets giving information of HBOT like how it works, indications, benefits for the patient. Also the pamphlets must be provided in regional languages since many patients/relatives are not able to read in English.

Posters of HBOT can be put up on hospital ambulance Brochures of HBOT can be given in the clinics, hospitals which are in the periphery of godrej hospital and references can be given. Articles written by the CEO in the leading medical journals about HBOT, benefits of HBOT Attending international conferences held for promoting medical tourism in india which will help in promotion of hospital since it is NABH accredited and even HBOT since it is the niche facility of the hospital.

MEDIA
The current webpage of godrej hospital doesnt give much information about hyper baric oxygen therapy, so modifications can be done in the content like Detail explanation of HBOT and its procedures In what conditions it is helpful Doctors opinion on this therapy Opinion from doctors of different fields like orthopedics, endocrinologist, cardiologist, neurologist etc. It can create a good impact on patients if they can relate their case or incidence with someone, for this if a patients success story is being told then a good impression is created of the hospital. Also the name of hospital can be updated on the sites which give info about the list of centers having HBOT. Eg. www.hbotindia.com Uploading videos of the department, the chamber and procedure on the internet, this will help the patients in understanding the procedure and it will give a good visual feedback.