Page 59 - The 20 Most Promising CEOs in Business Industry 2019

The Visionary Founder already treated over 2,500 patients. And stories of
Suresh Ramu is the Co-founder & CEO at Cytespace very satisfied patients are many.
Research Pvt. Ltd. He has over 17 years of work Suresh Ramu says that Rs 150 crore has already
experience. He was Asia-Pac Head of Global Data been invested through private capital (HNIs, family
Management and Head of Operations for the Cardiac offices and “some of us”). “These are people who
Safety business. He has been a member of various understand healthcare, who understand research.” All
professional bodies and speaker in international fora. investors are long-term players, and are not looking
Fighting Cancer Right Way at Return on Investment (RoI) immediately, he
pointed out.
At Cytecare, we understand and stress on the right
way of fighting cancer. This gives rise to a multi- Hub-And-Spoke Model
faceted approach to cancer treatment at Cytecare The company plans to grow through the hub-and-
relying on what we call the four pillars of cancer spoke model, setting up four-five hubs and some
treatment. This means we approach cancer treatment sub-centres which will cater to continuity of care.
in a combination of organ site focus (specialised For instance, patients could get, say, chemotherapy
clinical expertise for each type), tumour board or follow-up, from these sub-centres without having
(multidisciplinary teams), patient-centricity and to travel to the main hospital. For hubs, it is looking
clinical research methodologies. In addition to our at Pune, Chennai, Gujarat, and the East, “which has a
pillars, we have invested in building a strong ancillary lot of demand”. For sub-centres outside Bengaluru, it
system that works to enhance the impact of cancer is looking at Tumkur.
treatment. “We will raise subsequent rounds of funds for the
Our Hospital - Design & Architecture next hubs.”

Cytecare hospital has been designed keeping patients Suresh Ramu shares an interesting incident, when the
at the focal point, therefore, the placement and designs idea of setting up this hospital with a “difference”
of all our patient rooms, consultation chambers, received a boost; a radiation oncologist from the US
therapy rooms OTs, ICUs, walkways, parkings and who visited the hospital in its initial days liked the
lounges are also in accordance with our patients’ idea so much that he promised – and invested – half-
requirements. a-million dollar without even being asked to invest!

The architecture and interiors have been planned to According to Suresh Ramu, cancer treatment has
provide a serene and stress-free environment which come a very, very long way in the past 40-45 years.
caters to all 5 senses. We have invested in cutting- But in India, the metrics of the outcome of cancer
edge, energy-efficient systems for our hospital, which treatment – that is, overall survival and progression-
ensure advanced energy management for a green, eco- free survival – are much worse compared to the
friendly environment. developed countries, even though India has access to

Passion for Research the right expertise, and technology.
Throughout the conversation, he dwells passionately Organ Site Approach
on the importance of research and data culled from it “We miss certain things in terms of ‘approach’ and
for the right treatment of patients in India. For, “Indian ‘governance’ of cancer care. So, for the approach
(cancer) patient data is quite different to the US part, we (Cytecare) look at it from an organ site
(cancer) patient data. If we do these studies, we would approach, where there are dedicated teams for each
be able to customise the treatment.” type, large classification of cancers. So we have a
This passion for research stems from his decade- group, for example, for ‘head and neck’ cancers.
long stint with Quintiles Transnational, where he was There are over 17 different sites, or locations, within
V-P and Head – India, for Clinical Development, the ‘head and neck’ region itself, like the oral cavity,
managing all aspects of clinical trials in India. nasal cavity, ear. So, that’s the word-play on organ
site (Cytecare) approach.”
The 150-bed Cytecare Cancer Hospitals, which
completes one year of its existence in November, has The word ‘cyte’ is derived from the Greek word,

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