2. As defined by Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller, “ A service is
any act or performance that one party can offer to another
that is essentially intangible and does not result in the
ownership of anything and its production may or may not be
tied to a physical product ”.
3. THE INDUSTRY
“The healthcare industry (also called the medical industry or
health economy) is an aggregation and integration of sectors
within the economic system that provides goods and services
to treat patients with curative, preventive, rehabilitative, and
palliative care”.
One of the world's largest and fastest-growing industries,
consuming over 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)
of most developed nations.
4. PRODUCT
• Emergency and/or Casualty Services: state-of-the-art
ambulances, the CCUs on Wheels, hi-tech telecommunication
for such situations.
• Ambulance Services: linked by state-of-the-art
telecommunications and fully equipped with doctors.
• Diagnostic Services: offer a wide range of facilities for
instance, Oncology, Orthopedics, Neurology, Plastic surgery
and so on.
• Pharmacy Services: facility available for 24 hours for in and
out patients and also general public.
5. Other Attributes
• Health Diagnosis Programme" - a complete, comprehensive, periodic
health check up. It consists:
Master health check up
Executive Health check up
Diabetics health check ups etc.
Generally, the service offering in a hospital comprises of the following levels:
1. Core level – the basic treatment facilities and services offered by the
hospital like diagnostic services, emergency services, casualty services etc.
2. Expected level – cleanliness and hygiene levels maintained in the
hospital.
3. Augmented level – dress code for staff, air conditioning of the hospital,
use of state of art technology, services of renowned consultants.
6. PRICING
• Pricing strategy not dependant on competitor’s pricing as for the purpose
of serving the society and not profit maximization.
It includes:
Initial deposit. The amount depends and extends on :
• the category of room -
General ward - lower classes
Deluxe suite - middle and upper classes
• the treatment or surgical procedure planned.
7. PROMOTION
• Do not normally undertake aggressive promotion, rely a lot on
favorable word of mouth.
• To crease the clientele, introduction of different health
services like the acupressure clinic, master health
programmes and diabetes health checkups apart from annual
health checkups.
• Camps in rural areas to give medical check ups at a
reasonable price.
• Sponsor frequent visits to the spastic society, old age homes,
etc.
• Advertise in health and fitness magazines, other print and
electronic media, through awareness programmes, text
messages,etc.
8. PLACE
• Contact point between the customer and the hospital or
health clinic.
• Involves two factors:
Accessibility refers to the ease and convenience with which a
service can be purchased, used or received.
Availability refers to the extent to which a service is
obtainable or capable of being purchased, used and received.
• Factors influencing the placing decision:
market size and structure by geographical regions,
number and types of competitors in the region,
location of potentially attractive consumer segments,
local infrastructure,
good road access facilities and public transportation network.
9. PEOPLE
• The behavior and attitude of the personnel offering service
will influence the customer's overall perception of the service.
• It is necessary that the staff in hospital are trained to offer
quality patient care with human touch using state of the art
technology.
• Ways to motivate the employees:
Concessions to the employee's near ones.
Regular liaison with them at all times and knowing what the
employees want .
Active participation of the employees in the activities of the
hospital.
10. PROCESS
In a hospital, the process is divided into four phases:
1. The Joining Phase
Arrival of the patient
Registration
2. The Intensive Consumption Phase
Diagnosis
Treatment
Information about further actions
3. The Detachment Phase
Discharge of the Patient
Payment
4. Feedback
11. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
• Good ambience
• Appearance and behavior of staff
• Hygiene and Cleanliness
• Well organized
12. MEDICAL TOURISM
Medical tourism (also called medical travel, health tourism or
global health care) is the rapidly growing practice of traveling
across international borders to obtain healthcare.
• Services typically include elective procedures as well as
complex specialized surgeries such as joint replacement
(knee/hip), cardiac surgery, dental surgery, and cosmetic
surgeries.
• Main purpose being providing and availing better quality
healthcare services at comparatively low cost.
• Ex-Foreign patients travelling to India to seek medical
treatment in 2012, 2013 and 2014 numbered 171,021,
236,898, and 184,298 respectively.
