Riding on the healthcare boom in India, the (ICRI) Institute of Clinical Research (India) recently launched its healthcare division, ICRI Health. The division aims to introduce scientific management into healthcare services, both for medical tourism and hospital operations.
Kirtika Suneja spoke to Shiv Raman Dugal, chairman, board of directors, ICRI on how he plans to take things forward. Excerpts:
How do the new courses fit into your overall education strategy?
India has a $17 billion (around Rs 73,500 crore) healthcare industry, predicted to grow at 13 per cent annually over the next six years. Its growth will be boosted by medical tourism, growing at around 30 per cent annually. To meet this need, our health processes need to meet international standards to produce the required number of skilled people.
The two new courses, Hospital Operations Management (HOM) and Medical Tourism, fit into this overall strategy. Under HOM, we would be offering two-year full time MBA in Healthcare Management and under Medical Tourism, we will be offering Alternative Therapy in Medical Tourism, Patient Transfer System, and Hospital Architecture.Practical experience for four months will also be part of the course. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Academy of Hospital Administration, Delhi for jointly conducting these programmes.
How is the faculty being hired and how many students do you plan to take?
For the Medical Tourism course, faculty from Singapore Health will be teaching modules in India while the Academy of Hospital Administration , Delhi, will provide faculty for the HOM course. We have over 100 faculty members to teach 250 students in all our six centres. The fee for the programme is Rs 1.5 lakh.
How were the placements last year?
The placements were good for the clinical research students. We got around 10 students placed in Australia; 20 placed in the UK and around 18 placed in Spain and the US. The minimum salary of a CRO is Rs 25,000 that can go up to Rs 28 lakh.
What is your growth strategy for this year?
This year we plan to open two new centres in Pune and Chandigarh. Kolkata is in the pipeline for next year. We are also looking at formal tie-ups with three universities in the US.
