IIM B Alum Says ‘Get Well Soon’ to Healthcare in India

IIM B alum Shilesh Kumar has launched Akshara Hospitals which aspires not just to treat patients, but also to nurse India’s healthcare system back into shape

For sure you have had at least one conversation in the recent years about how commercial and untrustworthy our (India’s) medical systems have become. You would have seen how we are made to undergo innumerable tests and as patients we hardly have any control of the situation. The scene is quite unsettling. Now, Shailesh Kumar, a graduate of the One Year MBA (EPGP, Class of 2013), is making an effort to challenge this status quo. He has taken a big step into entrepreneurship and a meaningful one to bring out substantial change in the way our healthcare system treats its patients.

Shailesh, along with his brother and sister in law, has co-founded a specialty eye hospital in Bangalore – Akshara Eye Hospitals. Shailesh’s brother and sister-in-law are ophthalmologists. Many a times the family discussed and questioned the moral standards of India’s healthcare system and expressed how as doctors they found themselves to be a misfit in it.

Shailesh was then pursuing the One Year MBA (EPGP) course at IIMB and already begun showing the signs of being bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. The pieces of the puzzle fell in place when the three thought – why not start something on their own and make that a place that lives up to the values that they hold dear.

That’s how Akshara was born and after a year of background work, Akshara took off in August 2014.

One of the first things that Shailesh and his team removed from the equation is the devious revenue incentives for doctors. Shailesh says a big no to any sales linked incentives for clinical or non-clinical staff in a position to influence patient procedures. With patient centricity as their focus, Shailesh and his team will working towards building a transparent and value based organization. The aim will be to establish ethical standards which will push the competition to change the way the system is functioning now, all for the better. Shailesh is aware that this is a tall order and he is braced up to face the tough times. It will take them few years to drive home the point and says it is not going to be easy. But they are determined to do things the right way.

Knowing that the organization is going to take the tough path, Shailesh says one of the biggest decisions that they had to make was on who their investors would be. It definitely wouldn’t work if the angel investor was eyeing only short term returns. The healthcare model on which Akshara is based on wouldn’t work that way. Shailesh says it was extremely important that we tied up with investors who understood them, genuinely liked them as individuals and appreciated what they stood for. And this is one big learning that Shailesh says will help all entrepreneurs.

As Shailesh’s brother and sister-in-law focus on the hospital’s core functions, Shailesh, the ‘non-ophthalmologist’ in the scene, takes care of the finances, the strategies, marketing and other management related tasks. But he says unconsciously, he is picking up quite some essential info about eye treatments on the go. And you will be surprised that Shailesh is managing all this while he is working on a full time job at HP. He dedicatedly works Monday to Friday to his role as a strategy consultant at HP and his evenings and weekends are for Akshara. He’s working almost all the time, and that’s how far the entrepreneur bug is making Shailesh stretch himself! But he’s not one to complain. He’s thoroughly enjoying this experience and we are sure his good ideals will take him places.

Article courtesy iimbaaorg.com

Cover image courtesy pixgood.com