WITH the pandemic devastating the economy, many businesses are affected with some even closing down including private clinics.
However, one private clinic chain managed to stay afloat by using creative ideas, while motivating staffers using incentives to keep going.
In an exclusive interview with FocusM, SP Care founder Dr Sathia Prakash Nadarajan spoke about how COVID-19 affected his business and the ingenuity put it to keep his employees motivated.
Under his business group, Prakash runs 13 clinics, employing 32 doctors and 100 other support staff.
FocusM: Tell us about how COVID-19 affected your business and how you adapted to it.
Prakash: Before the pandemic arrived at our shores, my clinics used to treat between 1,000 and 2,000 patients daily.
When COVID-19 hit us in March last year, my patient numbers dropped sharpy by 60%. We started having only about 400 patients coming in daily. Therefore, I had to close five of my clinics due to low numbers.
As for the remaining clinics, I reduced its operating time from 24 hours to 7am until 11pm, retaining only two clinics operating around the clock.
However, I did not cut staff members but redesignated them to my other branches but I faced several issues due to this. Some of my employees refused to work but they wanted to me to claim money under the Wage Subsidy Programme due to fear of COVID-19.
And I understand their predicament. A lot of people were scared to come at night as well.
In terms of treating my employees, I always try to give them my best. For example, I have my own restaurant catering food for my employees, 24 hours a day.
Plus, there is also hostel for my workers and a designated place for quarantine if any of them get infected. Fortunately, none of my employees got infected with COVID-19 to date.
There are also paramedics, lab technicians and radiographers trained to handle COVID-19 patients.
FocusM: Please tell us about screening for COVID-19 cases and the preparations your clinics made.
Prakash: The Health Ministry (MOH) gave us approval to conduct COVID-19 screenings in March last year, which has helped my operations.
So far, we have done close to 100,000 COVID-19 screenings by mobilising our clinics for it. It helped create job opportunities and helped revive my business but we have scaled it down for festivities.
It was not easy because in the early days of the pandemic, we had to source for our own personal protective equipment (PPE), masks and other medical apparels. They were so hard to get that we even had to purchase them at Lazada and Shoppe.
I remember at the time when one box of face masks was going for RM105. I dare to say that I spent between RM20,000 to RM30,000 to purchase masks alone.
And it became worse when the Government suddenly announced a ceiling price for it, costing me quite a sum.
At the time, COVID-19 tests were not cheap either. A PCR test can fetch up to RM700 but thankfully, it has now dropped to RM230.
We actually used the drive-through method initially, under tents erected outside, to ease the process but we have now converted into walk-ins as I did not like my employees having to endure hot sun and rainy weather to do their work.
FocusM: How COVID-19 screening has helped retain jobs at your clinic and kept you afloat?
Prakash: Using the income we got from COVID-19 screening, I managed to stabilise my business and break even. Last year, my employees even received bonuses for Hari Raya. To be honest, they are earning more now compared to pre COVID-19 days.
What I do is this. For every COVID-19 screening, the employee gets RM1 as incentive. So, with 10 staff screening 50 people daily each, they easily get an additional RM500 extra monthly. Usually, we do up to 10,000 screenings a month.
And after closing hours at 6pm, if there are emergency cases, we charge the patients RM30 extra and the staff on duty gets it.
With this, my employees are motivated to work harder because they can get RM500 a month easily, not to mention free food.
FocusM: How do you see your business flourishing in the near future and immediate plans?
Prakash: For now, I’m planning to also join the National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme (PICK) and in the midst of discussing with Project Healthcare on how to go about purchasing equipment to support it, such cooling bags, thermometer and refrigerator.
If I get approval to vaccinate, I may need to convert some of my clinics into vaccination centres, as using my regular clinics as inoculation centres will put others at risk.
According to them, we will only receive RM14 for each vaccination which is nothing much compared to investment I will make to purchase the support equipment.
However, I’m willing to pour my heart out for this as I see this as a way to give back to the community that made me into who I am today. – May 23, 2021.
