01 June, 2019: Dr. Ajay Bakshi, CEO of Parkway Pantai and a veteran in the Indian healthcare industry, addressed the students of IIM Bangalore’s one-year MBA, the Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management, on 27th May 2019 on management practices in the healthcare industry. First as neurosurgeon, then as management consultant, and most recently, as CEO of one of the largest hospital chains in India, Dr. Bakshi has worn several hats in his career. He shared his learnings from and vision for the Indian healthcare industry during his talk.
He began by discussing the three major problems that the Indian healthcare system currently faces: A lack of doctors, information asymmetry at multiple levels, and a lack of political will to improve the healthcare system. He further elaborated on the problem of information asymmetry which, he explained, exists at three levels: between doctors and patients, patients and payers, and pharma companies and doctors. Dr. Bakshi discussed how artificial intelligence and machine learning can solve the problem of information asymmetry. He believes that the future of the industry will be shaped by non-healthcare professionals who will develop innovative solutions for the existing problems. The student cohort participated enthusiastically throughout the session by asking questions pertaining to the use of AI, compliance issues with relation to data, and trends in private equity investments in the healthcare space over the recent years.
Dr. Bakshi concluded his talk by sharing valuable leadership lessons. According to him, curiosity and humility are the two most important qualities that leaders must possess.
Abhishek Chainani is a current student of EPGP 2019-20 at IIM Bangalore. After graduating with BA (Hons) in Economics from HansRaj College, Delhi Universiy, he worked as a management consultant with Essex Lake Group. Before joining EPGP, he was working as a Program Manager with a healthcare-based NGO, Noora Health. His hobbies include running and spoken word poetry.