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Variety of Specialties Spurs General Hospital Ambition

Miguel Castillo - Hospital SEDNA
Director General

STORY INLINE POST

Wed, 09/06/2017 - 13:17

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Q: In which areas have you been investing?

A: We have been working on updating our diagnostic imaging equipment. We use German machines in this area and next year we want to renew our surgical equipment and to invest in an advanced laparoscopic surgical theater so we can o er this service. The hospital is 10 years old already and in the health industry you have to be constantly updating. Equipment becomes obsolete and there are constantly new inventions to help diagnose and care for patients. We want to o er the best service to our patients and stay up to date.

Q: To what capacity does the hospital operate and what are your expansion plans?

A: We are operating at around 60 percent of our capacity. The hospital has been expanding significantly since we changed our focus from women to become a general hospital. From 2015-2016, we grew 50 percent and we are looking at growth of 30-40 percent for 2016-2017. We have achieved this goal through our various client segments, our quality of service and by seeking out doctors and insurance companies that do business with us because we o er much transparency. We also see doctors as clients and we want them to enjoy their time here. They are treated with a super-personalized service and we want them to know that there are many people available to help them with anything they need.

Q: How do you attract patients and what are the advertising rules surrounding hospitals?

A: Customer service is one of our main values and safety is our top priority, followed by service. We mostly attract patients with our service. We firmly believe that by providing a service that is humane and friendly, patients will come back to us time and time again and will recommend us. There is also the patient’s family, doctors and insurers, for whom we have different lines of appeal. COFEPRIS’ advertising regulations cover the entire health industry. Within that, there are rules that cover the advertising of services. As a hospital, we can advertise; it is not very restrictive. More than a legal restriction, we have a moral obligation to tell the truth so that the business can be sustainable.

Q: How do you work with the public sector?

A: We do work with the government and tend to many patients through the Seguro Popular, mostly with breast cancer. Our partner’s oncological center is also accredited to tend to rectal, colon and prostate cancer. We are the first hospital in El Bajio to be accredited to o er recto-colon cancer treatment. When working with the Seguro Popular, a hospital must be accredited in certain specialties from the institution’s catalogue of services. Once accredited, the hospital tells the institution what space it has available and based on that, patients are sent to the hospital. We provide the same service when working through the government as we do with private patients.

Q: What is the strategy behind offering high-risk pregnancy services over normal pregnancy services?

A: High-risk pregnancies are in the Seguro Popular catalogue. There are many institutions that o er services for general pregnancies but very few o er a high-risk specialty. Given our history in gynecology, we have the experience and the expertise, so we are confident we can o er this service. We do not want to open specialties in which we cannot o er the required service.

Q: What are the hospital’s short-term plans?

A: We would like to continue building on our vision of humane treatment. This begins with our people and so in 2017 we will be investing greatly in them. We also have areas ready for growth and we could increase our capacity by 40 percent. We have the space to grow and we have 140 doctor’s offices that could also grow by 20 percent. We want to focus on obesity and bariatric surgery, one of the country’s main challenges — epidemiological alerts have been issued for diabetes and overweight in the country. We are building an obesity clinic at the hospital for the integral treatment of this condition and metabolic disorders.

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