The curves of life lead a person on a quest to uncover their actual selves and give them a purpose. This objective could be anything that requires a significant time commitment from the person to be accomplished. The correct combination of hard work and other necessary components can transform an aspirant into a visionary leader.
Dr. Shuchin Bajaj, the Founder and Director of Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services, is one such pioneer in the healthcare sector who is revolutionizing the sector with his insightful ideas, persistent networking, and problem-solving prowess. He believes that every patient has a right to good health and wants to help those who are in need, for that Dr. Shuchin transformed healthcare in rural areas. By doing this, he is taking advantage of medical technology’s advantages while being adaptable to the industry’s latest developments.
The following are the main takeaways from a comprehensive interview conducted by Global Biz Outlook with Dr. Shuchin Bajaj, who is enhancing medical treatment’s affordability and accessibility, especially for tertiary care and serious conditions across the nation. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from the interview below to learn more about his remarkable and ambitious journey thus far!
Tell us about Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services in Brief. What kind of solutions are offered by Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services that are at par with the current healthcare standards?
Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services currently operates 21 hospitals in five states of North India namely Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi, and Jammu & Kashmir., supported by a network of outreach clinics and digital health services providing free tele consultations, to ensure everyone in the world has access to high-quality health care services regardless of their financial, geographical or social status.
Ujala Cygnus hospitals are transforming healthcare in rural areas by improving both accessibility and affordability of medical care, particularly in tertiary care and critical illnesses. The geographies that they serve did not have adequate high-end medical infrastructure and hence patients from villages and rural areas had to travel hundreds of kilometres before being able to access Hospitals.
These cities also do not have critical care services and hence the mortality due to diseases like heart attack and Trauma is very high. With the help of technology infusion and expanded infrastructure, Ujala Cygnus believes that creating multiple access points and touch points across tier 2 and 3 towns and rural India is the ultimate goal for any healthcare provider who wishes to make healthcare more inclusive and impactful to the society, community, and environment for the long-term sustainability.
Please give us a brief overview of your background and how you decided to pursue the career you are working in today.
Dr. Bajaj’s parents came from Pakistan as refugees to India. His father started by making kites for a living while staying on the roof of a horse stable. He understood that education was the only way out of his poverty and so taught himself as well as his children. Due to his efforts, Dr. Bajaj completed his medical education at government medical colleges, gave up a secure job in one of the biggest private hospitals in India, and started from a small 10×10 clinic, with a monthly budget of about Rs 500 to Rs 1000, and is now the founder of Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services that is situated across 19+ locations with 21 hospitals, impacting the lives of millions. He was and is more focused on saving as many lives as he can. He aimed at providing high-quality low-cost health care to communities that don’t have access. A believer in socio-economic justice and general economic equilibrium, Dr. Shuchin Bajaj believes in strengthening rural India by reaching out to them. He says his mission in life is to dissociate high-quality healthcare access from financial & social status.
What are your views on today’s healthcare industry, and according to you, how are you contributing to making it better for clients, patients, and doctors?
Dr. Bajaj says that even after 77 years of independence, as a country, we are unfortunate that we have been unable to provide quality tertiary healthcare services, especially emergency tertiary care like services for heart attacks, or patients suffering from trauma or neurosurgical problems in tier-II and tier-III cities. Residents in this part of the nation must travel even from district places to tier-1 cities for treatment of trauma or heart attacks. We studied this evolution of healthcare very closely and realized the huge need for emergency medical facilities, especially during the ‘golden hour’ which is the time when the patient’s chances of survival are greatest if they receive care within a short period after a severe injury. To complement this effort further, we institutionalized centers for excellence in intensive care, neurology, cardiology, and trauma, to unlock the golden door of quality and speedy medical service.
During your journey towards growth, list the challenges you faced and the lessons you have learned from them.
Over the last two years, Dr. Bajaj has been fighting the war on the pandemic as a frontline warrior doing clinical work including COVID ICU duties, managing his nineteen hospitals offering COVID care to thousands of patients daily, and setting up free COVID-19 care hospitals. He had set up a one thousand oxygen-COVID bed free Covid hospital in Delhi and a 100-bed free hospital in Prayagraj at the height of the pandemic. The Delhi centre was the largest field ICU in the country with 308 fully equipped ICU beds. The incredible achievement of this center was zero mortality in this hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. He despite running critical care and emergency focussed hospitals, understands that the cost of the disease is unmanageably high in a hospital more than six crore Indians slip below the poverty line every year in India due to healthcare costs. This is why, in addition to the fact that it is a fireable offense in Ujala Cygnus to turn away a patient due to financial reasons, they also run a large number of outreach clinics and do almost 25 Sehat Chaupals (free medical camps) every day across locations, seeing more than 2000 patients close to their houses, within their villages, so that their disease is diagnosed early and they do not face complications and worsened outcomes.
What benefits are your patients/clients getting from Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services?
Dr. Bajaj says that India has 797 districts, out of which, less than 300 districts have access to high-quality healthcare facilities, most of which are out of reach of the financially challenged community members. This leaves a vast swathe of our population amounting to almost 600 million people who are left at the mercy of either poorly equipped government medical facilities or extremely expensive and unaccountable private players. Out of this huge population, about 260 million Indians, who are surviving with the burden of disease, estimated at around $ 30 billion constituting 5% of GDP, are our direct potential beneficiaries. There are 22 districts in Haryana, 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh, 20 districts in Jammu & Kashmir, and 13 districts in Uttarakhand with a total population of about 30 crores out of which 110 districts do not have access to tertiary care particularly related to neuro trauma, cardiac care, and medical intensive care till our intervention.
“We have been able to provide lifesaving care in said specialties in 7 of the 18 districts in Haryana, 2 districts in J&K, 5 districts in Uttar Pradesh, and 3 districts in Uttarakhand through Ujala Cygnus Super Specialty Hospitals,” assures Dr. Bajaj.
Similarly, in 2 rural districts of Delhi, they have been able to provide these services. A total of 5 crore population has benefitted from this access.
People used to travel distances varying from 50 to 500 km to achieve this access previously and would lose their lives in the process of transferring such patients, particularly with head injuries and heart attacks.
There is a tremendous difference in benchmarked quality (measured by third-party NABH) and perceptible quality (measured by their in-house quality team through feedback) in their hospitals as compared to previously existing small nursing homes.
Which strategies do you follow to stay competent? How are you shaping yourself to become unique?
Dr. Bajaj is a highly qualified medical scholar. After completing his MBBS from PGIMS, Rohtak, he did his Doctorate in Internal Medicines (MD) from Dr. S. N. Medical College, Jodhpur in 2004. Apart from the foregoing, he also did a Certified Professional course on Diabetes Management and Total Control from the American Academy of Continuing Medical Education, USA in 2008, an Advanced Program in Strategic Management from I.I.M. Calcutta in 2013, and an Advanced Program in Cardiac Emergencies from Boston University in 2014.
He has also received the prestigious Chevening Gurukul Fellowship for Leadership Excellence from the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UKFCO). Dr. Bajaj is also the recipient of the Aspire Circle Fellowship for Social Leadership and the Innovating Health for Tomorrow (IHT) Fellowship at INSEAD, France.
He makes sure to go to the grassroots and the community and educate them about how to prevent chronic diseases and how to inculcate a healthy lifestyle. Dr. Bajaj put a lot of emphasis on their preventive camps and outreach activities around the rural regions of each of their hospitals.
Dr. Shuchin Bajaj has been able to change the lives of more than 7 lakh people through medical camps. Additionally, he has been a part of 4000+ continuous medical education programs each year that have worked strenuously to create sustainable healthcare solutions and spread awareness towards imminent medical problems. Collectively, since the last few years these primary and preventive engagements have led to saving and impacting more than 10 million lives in the community.
what would you attribute your success to?
“I would attribute my success to a combination of key qualities and principles that have played a pivotal role in my journey. Those were perseverance, diligence, and staying true to my purpose,” asserts Dr. Bajaj.
“Staying true to my purpose– it involved aligning my actions and decisions with my core values and long-term goals. Throughout my journey, I remained focused on my overarching mission, avoiding distractions that could have veered me off course. This sense of purpose provided you with a guiding light, shaping my choices and priorities. It’s about understanding what truly matters to me and channeling my energy toward pursuits that resonate with my deeper aspirations. By staying true to my purpose, I not only found motivation during challenging times like covid era but also established a sense of authenticity that has likely earned me respect and credibility in my endeavors,” he continues.
“I had to maintain perseverance i.e. my unwavering determination to overcome challenges and obstacles. In my journey to success, I knew I must maintain perseverance, and have a tenacious spirit by persisting through difficult times. Whether faced with setbacks, failures, or unforeseen difficulties, I was committed to my goals. I believed in diligence i.e. consistent and earnest effort put into my endeavours. My success is not merely the result of luck or chance; it’s a product of my hard work and conscientious approach,” he added.
What is the best part of your Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services, and how will you utilize it in the future?
Dr. Bajaj and their team’s contribution to the inclusive healthcare development agenda and commitment to the ‘universal healthcare for all’ mission, has been an integral part of their service delivery within the entire healthcare ecosystem, by ensuring free medicines and discounts on pharmacy, consultancies, and surgeries to the economically weaker population of the society worth Crores of rupees in the last few years. They have also mobilized the larger community on various facets of health awareness through health/medical camps for rural outreach on issues such as diabetes, joint replacements, emergency medical first-aids, maternity, cardiology, preventive care, etc. leading to socio-economic justice and poverty alleviation.
They have been pioneers and champions of the Ayushman Bharat PMJAY initiative. When most corporate hospitals were shying away from the scheme due to the low rates of procedures and treatments offered by the government, they were the first ones to embrace the initiative wholeheartedly as it fed into the larger mission of eliminating poverty due to healthcare costs. They were the first ones to do a Cardiac Angioplasty as well as a Mitral valve procedure in India under the Ayushman PMJAY scheme.
Furthermore, their hospitals were also the first ones to be awarded the Gold certificate by the Government of India for excellence in providing healthcare to Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries. In fact, amongst the first ten hospitals in India that were awarded the Gold Certificate, four were Ujala Cygnus Hospitals.
How do you see the future vision for Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services in creating that change?
“We have the mission to expand to the farthest corners of North India and institutionalize at least 30 units of medical excellence till 2025. We are currently present in 5 states in North India, including Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Haryana. We plan to expand to Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan in the near future,” asserts Dr. Bajaj.
“We have introduced specialty domains like Pediatrics and Oncology in our services recently and would replicate the same to all our existing and upcoming centers. We are en route to installing best-in-class Operation Theater suites at our hospitals to scale up Cardiac surgery and oncosurgery services at all our 21 locations, up from the current three hospitals we are offering them at. We have partnered with one of the best oncology care providers to collaborate, scale up, and upscale medical and Radiation oncology services in Ujala Cygnus healthcare,” he added.
