The other day I was reading an article by the one time Chief Economist of India Mr. P.K.Basu where he mentioned “how Kolkata has seen a surge in medical tourism, with Bangladeshi’s first choice of ‘top class’ medical facilities is Kolkata.
Link to the article – https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/business/kolkata-must-aspire-become-indias-chicago

After reading the article, I was intrigued & fascinated at the same time. Medical tourism has in fact played a huge role in developing Kolkata as a medical hub, with Multiple-speciality & Super-Speciality Healthcare units been set up over the past two decades.

The same incremental growth has been observed in the pathology & diagnostic centres as well. As the city grew larger in diameter the need for local diagnostic centres became all the more, thus paving a way for an overall development of the medical facilities that the people of Kolkata or coming to the city may take full advantage of.

Interesting Read about Kolkata & Medical Tourism – https://www.tripexperienceblog.com/places/what-makes-kolkata-an-upcoming-medical-tourism-hotspot-for-south-east-asia/

A word from the CEO of SRL Diagnostics – https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/diagnostics/diagnostic-companies-have-to-wake-up-to-the-new-era-of-consumerism-arindam-haldar/64170524

While things were on the rise, hardly could any one imagine the world would have to face a global pandemic. In the past 1 year, the contribution of the healthcare sector to our society would be remembered & indebted forever.

It was in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, is when the shift of communication over digital medium became quintessential for every brand in the healthcare sector. This area in itself has seen so many good campaigns being rolled out from various brands. The pandemic also accelerated the need for a “brand” as in an online experience, with competition being at an all time peek, brand values, ethics is a sure shot way of differentiation.

Not only in the national healthcare sector has this trend of digitisation been widely accepted, many local & state based diagnostic centres are starting to use the power of digital communication. In fact, if we dig a little deep, we can see how localised or franchisee based diagnostic centres are taking the digital platform with good quality advertising which is resulting in direct revenue growth.

If I had to give 2 examples of local healthcare brands doing good on social media would be

1. Suraksha Diagnostics
2. Disha Eye Hospital
   Both of these establishments are not older than 25 years & their management have adopted the digital way of going forward wonderfully.
   If we have a look at their website, we can very easily understand the vital information which anyone would need. The website is mobile friendly. Appointments can be done from the website itself. They use social media to communicate with their audience too, sometimes with informative graphic artworks, or small animated AV’s.
   The direct resultant of such activities on the digital front is most definitely a positive sentiment for the brand. I am obviously unaware of the revenue growth figures of the companies, but, even then it would be safe to say, a positive ROI is being delivered. Or else, these brands would have done something else on the digital front, but they have persisted on the strategies they have chosen. Why would they stick to a strategy if it is not working for them?

If you haven’t gone through my article of how any SME in the healthcare business use Facebook Ads to scale up or consolidate their business, be sure to check that article out. It might help you get the push you need to start advertising on Facebook.

As an expert of outreach, communications & sales, it really feels satisfying to see localised brands taking to social media to communicate with the audience. Back in 2014 when I started my entrepreneurial journey, incidents like these were dream come true. Back then we mostly had to work with nationalised brands who were having the understanding of how to use social media to its utmost potential.

If there’s anyone from Disha Eye Hospital or Surakhsha reading this, I would personally want to thank the management for adapting to the changing times.

Why am I saying “thanking & adapting”. Let me explain.
The next few images are of diagnostic centres shows how they are yet to adopt the digital transformation processes.

When you see business owners taking decisions which are towards a progressive future, it only feels good. For brands like Suraksha & Disha Eye Foundation, communicating over social media, having a website & incorporating digital technologies in their everyday processes has just started. Like I have stated, digital transformation for your business is a shift of mindset & perspective.

Tomorrow if Disha Eye Foundation wants, they can get their own Youtube channel activated & upload 1 new video every day. 1 year later, not only would Disha eye foundation have their own dedicated audience on Youtube, just like how traditional TV channels had a dedicated audience. Not only that but also they would have started earning through YouTube advertising as well.
The moment Disha’s Youtube Channel reaches a subscriber count of mere 10,000, it would possibly open up strategic collaborative campaigns between channel partners, equipment partners.

I’ll give an example to better understand a digital strategic collaborative deal in this next article too. For understanding purposes I’m keeping it short.

All the above written statement is very well possible for brands like Disha Eye Foundation & Suraksha Diagnostic Centres in 1 years time because they have been able to identify the perfect way in which adoptive digital mechanisms can be used for our business. If used right, benefit is the ONLY result.