The growing partnership between corporate institutions and hospitals signals the beginning of a new era in affordable and reliable healthcare services in Nepal.
Various hospitals and corporate houses have been collaborating with each other in recent times, bringing different schemes and discounts on treatments for their staffers and customers. Lately, the corporate offices have opted for collaboration with many hospitals in the capital for the benefit for their staffers and customers.
Almost all major medical institutions in the capital have collaborated with different corporate houses, embassies, banks, among many other institutions, offering discounts to staffers and consumers on different services provided by the hospitals. The collaborations have been fruitful as the rate of patients coming for regular health checkups has been on the increasing side in the last few years, according to the hospitals in the capital.
According to Norvic International Hospital, it has collaborated with 12 different banks, embassies and housing companies. “We are the first hospital in Nepal to start collaboration with corporate houses to provide health services to their staffers and the customersat a reasonable price,” Rajendra Bahadur Singh, executive director at Norvic Hospital, told NewBiz.
Under the collaboration, the hospital is offeringa 10 percent discount on radiology, pathology, and non-invasive cardiology surgery. Similarly, it is also providing five percent discount on bed charges.
The offer is not only for the staffers of the corporate offices. The card holders of the collaborated banks will also get all the packages offered by the hospital. “We have always focused on providing quality medical services to the people for the last 25 years. Not only the staffers and the consumersbut also their parents, spouses and two children also get all the offers provided under the collaboration,”said Singh.
Norvic claims that the collaboration has been fruitful for both hospital and the corporate offices as a lot of staffers have come up for regular checkups to stay away from unwanted diseases. The hospital has joined hands with major banks including Mega Bank, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal, Sanima Bank, Global IME Bank, Himalayan Bank, NMB Bank, among others.
Likewise, Nepal Mediciti Hospital, the largest hospital of the country in terms of bed capacity, has also collaborated with many banks, hotels and restaurants, and many institutions since the establishment of the hospital. “Our mission is to provide quality health services. A joint effort is needed to stop people from going overseas for treatment. So the hospital has been collaborating with many organisations under the theme ‘Partners in progress’,” said Bijay Rimal, general manager at Nepal Mediciti Hospital.
According to the hospital, it is looking for collaboration with different institutions and hospitals outside the capital so that the patients don’t have to come to Kathmandu for the treatment of common diseases. Nepal Mediciti has collaborated with Nepal Investment Bank Limited, NMB Bank, Kumari Bank, Citizens Bank, Mahalaxmi Development Bank, among several banks of the country.
“The hospital is also in the process of collaborating with Mahakali Zonal Hospital. Our main aim is to provide doctors for the treatment of the patients in the region as the hospital doesn’t have medical staff. The collaboration will also help to reduce the number of patients travelling to India for medical treatment. The statistics shows that more than 200,000 Nepalis travel overseas for medical treatment every year,” Rimal said, adding that the hospital has also brought many insurance policies to ensure that the patients don’t have to spend hefty amounts of money on treatment. Nepal Mediciti Hospital is offering a seven percent discount on all its services to the partners. NMB Bank, an ‘A’ class financial institution has collaborated with different hospitals like Samitivej, Nepal Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Mediciti and Norvic.
Rimal further adds that the people are slowly becoming aware about their health. “We want people to visit hospitals regularly at least once a year, so that they know about their health conditions because prevention is always better than cure,” said Rimal.
“The collaboration also reassures the patients that there is the hospital and their organization to support them in times of need,” Singh, executive director at Norvic said.
According to Citizens Bank International Ltd, which has collaborated with five different hospitals, the main objective of the partnership is to promote cashless payment system and to encourage the staffers for regular medical checkup. “The collaboration also helps the business grow for both hospital and the bank. As there has been a lot of collaboration between the corporate offices and hospitals lately, the main target of offices is to provide options to our customers and quality services,” said an employee of Citizens Bank.