Those bunches of leaflets in the newspaper are becoming annoyingly frequent. They are gut-wrenching, heart-stopping. Early morning is not when you want to be alarmed about liver transplants, dialysis, stomach surgery, knee replacement or panic over how badly your heart could be doing.

Nor is that a pleasant billboard on breast cancer that looms over you from a narrow lane. It used to be about cervical cancer, and before that, about a newly installed ‘world's best' equipment there. And it bumps into you not too far away from another hospital's board about downsizing obese people's stomachs (‘bariatric surgery', they call it).

If hospital-dense Bangalore is brimming with advertisements by hospitals targeted at potential patients living around them, it surely is not alone. According to an official from a leading hospital chain, everyone in every city is doing it; and doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. While hospitals large and small admit that they are pushing their services and facilities more than they did earlier, recent developments underline that trend.

Manipal Healthcare Enterprises (MHEL), the network of 11 corporate hospitals, recently recruited medic-turned-adman Simanta Sharma, MBBS, MBA and former Ogilvy man, to head its new division in a rather telling position: Vice-President, Media, Brands & Products. Manipal has also signed up RK Swamy BBDO as its internal and external communications partner for three years. During this time, Manipal plans a brand makeover and print and television commercials, says Rajen Padukone, MHEL's CEO.

A tier-2 hospital in Karnataka that is expanding rapidly with private equity infusion has reportedly absorbed a dozen-strong agency that was handling its external communications and public relations.

On Heart Day, two large hospital chains dole out info-lets on their slashed rates for tests, one of them at a third of regular rates. A new clinic that treats infertile people launches what it calls “India's first infertility money back scheme”.

And among those attending a course run by advertising and brand consultancy firm Brand-comm is a staff member of a major national hospital chain — easily the first to do so from that industry.

Is Indian healthcare going the FMCG way, to push and sell the wares? Like chartered accountants or lawyers, doctors, too, cannot advertise themselves. While the Medical Council of India bans medics from advertising, making claims or putting their pictures, it leaves a grey area for hospitals.

It all started in 1983 when the country's first corporate hospital opened, says Dr Rana Mehta, Executive Director and Leader, Health Care Advisory, PwC. The doctor who once worked at Apollo Hospitals and who has been a hospital administrator before turning consultant, points out that even the acclaimed US hospital, Mayo Clinic, noted for quality and charitable work, advertises significantly and has a good Web site. From almost nil, Indian hospitals have shifted from B2B to B2C and are indeed growing. Yet, a Rs 200-crore healthcare player advertises far less today than a comparable company in any other sector, he notes.

Service as a brand

“In the last two years, hospitals have also become brand conscious,” observes Pavan Padaki, Director - Insights and Creative at Brand-comm. “They are re-inventing, re-positioning themselves in the market. Healthcare players are tapping into brand specialists, consultants and specialised advertising agencies to handle their brand-related communication. They want to package their service as a brand, where they earlier emphasised their price and facilities.”

Related Topics