Bridging Healthcare Gaps: R-Jolad Hospital’s Synergy of Tech Integration, Public-Private Collaboration, Future Strategies

Soji Osunsedo is the Chief Operating Officer at R-Jolad Hospital, a multi-specialist hospital providing quality and affordable healthcare services. Over the last four decades, R-Jolad Hospital has sustained a culture of continuous access to affordable healthcare services, expanding from less than 10 beds to 215 beds across all locations. In this interview with Rebecca Ejifoma, the COO details how public-private partnerships can lessen the burden on public healthcare and how the company has maintained a sustainable mode of operations

You were recently appointed the Chief Operating Officer at R-Jolad. Could you walk us through your role and how your background and experiences help you to lead the hospital’s operations?

As the COO of R-Jolad Hospital, I oversee its day-to-day operations, ensuring their alignment with the business’s strategic goals. This involves the management of daily operations, which includes patient experience, staff management, billings and payments, business development and facility management. I collaborate with stakeholders such as physicians, nurses, patients, and suppliers to ensure the hospital provides top-notch patient care while optimising resources.

My experience spans 20 years in pharmaceuticals and business management, and this has proved pivotal in leading and transforming the hospital. Over the years, I have been privileged to manage teams in finance, human resources, customer experience, and operations. This expertise helps me drive efficiency and effectiveness across all non-clinical teams at R-Jolad Hospital. 

Overall, my combination of healthcare and business management experience is well-suited to my role as COO at R-Jolad. It enables me to combine business acumen with a deep understanding of healthcare operations to drive the hospital’s continued success and growth.

In delivering healthcare services, a critical factor to consider is patient experience. As the COO, can you share valuable insights on running a facility like R-Jolad successfully?

Patient experience is a critical success factor for us at R-Jolad, and to ensure it is paramount and enshrined into all we do, it is buttressed within our values “WECARE”, which is an acronym for Wholeness, Empathy, Courage, Agility, Responsibility and Excellence. 

We ensure processes are built around the need and desire to exceed customers’ expectations. We strive for continuous innovation and are quick to anticipate and respond to a changing market with new and effective solutions. It is our individual and collective commitment to take ownership and carry out a task to a successful conclusion. 

Additionally, having a competent and dedicated team is key to success. We invest in our staff, providing ongoing training and development opportunities to ensure that they are equipped to provide high-quality care to our patients. 

Finally, maintaining a culture of continuous improvement is crucial. We regularly review our processes and performance metrics, seeking feedback from patients and staff and implementing changes to improve our services and outcomes. 

R-Jolad recently launched the R-Jolad Plus. What differentiates this facility from other R-Jolad facilities?

R-Jolad Plus is our flagship premium facility meticulously designed to offer premium, patient-centred, end-to-end care, enhanced with exceptional hospitality to address the burgeoning need for top-tier healthcare services in Nigeria. The facility is equipped with the latest technology and staffed by highly trained and experienced medical professionals, enabling us to offer a comprehensive range of services to our patients.

One of the key differentiators compared to other R-Jolad facilities is our personalised healthcare services. We offer a range of services tailored to meet the needs of each patient. From routine check-ups to specialised care, we work closely with patients to develop a personalised treatment plan that meets their unique needs.

Another key differentiator of R-Jolad Plus is our cutting-edge diagnostic and treatment infrastructure. We have made substantial investments in state-of-the-art medical equipment and technology, enabling precise and effective diagnosis and treatment across a spectrum of medical conditions. Beyond medical care, R-Jolad Plus offers basic, intermediate and comprehensive wellness tests as a part of our preventive medicine practice. Our facilities encompass physiotherapy, counselling, and other resources to foster patients’ health and well-being.

R-Jolad has spread beyond Gbagada, where it initially started operations. What are the reasons for the expansion and the benefits to the people? 

Our expansion is driven by the belief that quality healthcare should be universally accessible, regardless of location or socio-economic status. The expansion aims to enhance accessibility to a broader patient base, minimising barriers to healthcare access and bringing services closer to those in need.

For over four decades since Dr. Funsho Oladipo founded it, R-Jolad has provided much-needed high-quality care at Gbagada, where we delivered tens of thousands of babies and looked after them. Many of these babies have returned to deliver their children at the hospital. We have, of course, also looked after different generations of families during this period. Though many of our patients have moved to other parts of the State, they still choose to come to Gbagada from a long distance. Based on this and the growing need for standard high-quality healthcare across the State, we decided to take our services to other communities across the State. Hopefully, we will soon start to take our services beyond Lagos State. This expansion also fosters local economic growth by generating job opportunities in the communities where we operate.

Technology plays a crucial role in the healthcare sector. How is R-Jolad adapting and applying technology for patient care and business growth? 

One of the ways we apply technology to improve patient care is by implementing a digital queuing system. This system lets patients book appointments and check in for appointments digitally, eliminating the need for physical queues and reducing wait times. 

We have also integrated technology into our medical services. For example, our radiology department is equipped with advanced imaging technology that produces high-quality images, providing accurate and timely diagnoses for our patients. We also use electronic medical records (EMR) to facilitate easy access to patient data and improve communication between healthcare providers, leading to better patient health outcomes.

Lastly, we have recently launched telemedicine through the innovative OctoDoc App, which is available on both Google Play and the App Store.

The private-public partnership is one of the recommended partnerships in the healthcare sector. How do you think private healthcare reduces the strain on public healthcare, and how is R-Jolad filling the gap?

The public healthcare system in Nigeria is often overstretched, leaving a significant gap in healthcare delivery. According to a recent publication by the Nigerian Health Facility Registry (NHFR), Nigeria has 39,914 operational hospitals and clinics, of which 26 per cent are privately managed. This shows the private sector is playing a growing role in meeting the population’s healthcare needs.

At R-Jolad, we are committed to reducing the strain on the healthcare system by complementing public facilities with our services. We do this by providing high-quality, prompt and efficient medical services, ensuring that patients receive accessible and affordable care. We also work closely with public healthcare institutions in areas such as vaccination and tuberculosis management, and we also collaborate with public healthcare providers in developing training programmes for healthcare professionals, thereby transferring medical knowledge and improving overall healthcare infrastructure in the country.  

We recently received accreditation from the relevant postgraduate colleges of medicine and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to train and develop Resident doctors and House-officers respectively. As a part of this enormous responsibility, we also provide tutelage services to Senior Resident doctors, many of whom are serving with the public health institutions.

Tell us more about your strategic focus for R-Jolad over the next few years.

Keying into our vision of providing accessible and affordable healthcare services to all patients, our strategic focus over the next few years is centred on deepening our services and expanding our footprint to provide even better patient experiences and outcomes.

We recently launched emergency care at our Gbagada facility, which probably puts us as one of the few private hospitals in the State with such. We are now building critical care facilities to complement this, and we will soon be launching our new Critical Care Floor at Gbagada with six Adult ICUs, four HDUs and two Paediatrics ICU beds, having already launched earlier in the year our four cot Neonatal ICU facility. This aims to save more lives by providing life-saving mechanisms and care for those who need it.

Also, we are expanding our facilities to bring our services closer to more patients. We have adopted a hub-and-spoke model to improve access to specialised medical services. Under this model, our more extensive facilities will act as hubs, providing specialised medical services and diagnostic tests. At the same time, our satellite clinics will serve as spokes, providing primary healthcare services and referring patients to the hubs as needed. By optimising the use of resources and expertise, this model will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our services and affordability to the public. In this regard, we are also open to partnering with other private clinics that may want to operate and grow under our umbrella.

Patient experience is also a significant area of priority for us. We are focused on enhancing our services to provide an even better patient experience, and the increased use of technology will be important here. 

Lastly, we plan to commence medical research in collaboration with leading healthcare institutions in Nigeria and abroad, all in a bid to raise the quality of care for our patients. We are committed to staying at the forefront of medical technology and providing our patients with the latest medical innovations and treatments.