Alumni Ventures: Ovum Hospitals – Dr. Adarsh Somashekhar, GMHE 2017
The Ovum Hospital Chain is a pioneer in delivering world-class amenities in maternity, child care, and fertility treatment. They are headquartered in Bangalore, but have offices in several other locations around the country. Dr. Adarsh Somashekhar, an alumni of IIMB, is the Chairman and CEO of Ovum Hospitals. Dr. Adarsh has watched the chain develop from its inception to what it is now.
The Lsquare Team had an exclusive conversation with Dr. Adarsh to learn more about how the health care sector is growing and what fuels the entrepreneurial flame. In his own words –
Please tell us something about yourself.
I am a Pediatrician by profession. I have around 20 + years of experience in the field of Pediatrics. I am also an entrepreneur who is currently the chairman & CEO of Ovum Hospitals ( A unit of Neonatal Care & Research Institute Pvt Ltd). That apart, I am a fitness enthusiast. I participate in marathons and triathlon events regularly.
Can you tell us about your venture – Ovum Hospitals?
About 10 years ago, I along with my friends Dr. Praveen Venkatagiri, Dr. Venkat Reddy and Dr. Sailesh Vittala visualized a healthcare venture that would provide high-quality patient-centric treatment to women and children. In 2014, that dream came true as we inaugurated the Ovum Woman and Child Hospital at Kalyan Nagar. This laid the foundation to scale up to 5 more branches in different parts of the city. Today, we are one of the leading maternity and child healthcare providers in Bangalore.
Our vision is to provide the Right Care and Right Medical Treatment to patients, be empathetic towards patients and support them and their families throughout their journey.
What services are provided by Ovum? What is Ovum focus area?
OVUM mainly caters to five services which are:
- Obstetrics/ Maternity
- Gynaecology
- Neonatology
- Paediatrics
- IVF
The focus area is neonatal care and services. We run level three state-of-the-art neonatal facilities at an affordable cost. We also have NNF accredited fellowship programme.
How did you come up with the concept or idea for Ovum?
When we came back from England, We realized that we have two types of hospitals in India. First, is a government hospital where services are absolutely free. The second was the Apollo and Fortis, super specialty hospitals that provided all the services, but many patients could not afford this. We wanted to look in the middle path where we should provide the best Services in comparison to any other leading/ corporate hospital in India with a cost as minimum as possible. With this, we have created a middle-segment hospital where we assure quality equal to existing corporate hospitals, but at a lower cost.
What sets Ovum Hospital’s network apart from others?
Teamwork is the foundation of our structure. Our highly qualified multi-disciplinary team of doctors consisting of neonatologists, pediatricians, obstetricians, gynecologists, infertility experts, anesthetists, fetal medicine specialists, radiologists, pathologists, physiotherapists, plastic surgeons, nutritionists, along with nurses and support staff, provide round the clock medical care for mothers and children and are best in their respective fields.
Through our regular training and auditing, we ensure that our team of doctors and nurses are equipped with the latest clinical knowledge, to offer high-quality patient care, the right way. We uphold the highest standards of medical ethics – ensuring patient-centric, evidence-based clinical practices for a healthy delivery and for all maternal and pediatric care.
What future goals do you have for Ovum?
We had some difficult times during covid. However, the pandemic has subsided. Now, we are aiming to open at least two hospitals every year in the future. It would be a dream to get OVUM into an IPO in this decade.
What interests do you pursue in your free time?
I’m a sports Enthusiast .I spend quite a bit of my free time in running , swimming or cycling. I also love reading history and political science.
You successfully completed the Ironman activity in Denmark; could you tell us more about it?
“Ironman” is a triathlon event that involves 3 sports- 3.8 Kms Swimming in open water followed by 180 kms Cycling followed by 42 kms Running which has to be completed within 16 hours. I  could complete this in less than 14 and a half hours. It’s one of the toughest races and completing it itself is such a feat. Even before this Triathlon, I have done a couple of half marathons and even a couple of full marathons. I did not know much about “Ironman Triathlon” until I heard about it from my friends. I wanted to take it up to test my own fitness and abilities. Last two years, I have taken up this sport seriously. I got trained by coaches, Mr. Sridhar Venkatraman and Mr. Burman. I used to wake up at 5 in the morning which meant I had to go early to bed. This involved cutting down on TV time, late-night movie shows, social gatherings, etc. I had to keep a watch on my diet very strictly. The weekly training schedule involves swimming, running, cycling and gym.
How has your time at IIMB benefited you?
I am an alumnus of IIM, Bangalore. Topics like Digital Marketing, Operations, Medico-legal aspects, and Economics provided me with great insights. There were eminent people who were in the society who were brought by our professor category and they took topics that were very relevant to our healthcare background. We made a lot of friends and we still stay in touch. Some of them are doctors and some of them are professionals working in various hospitals. Again this network is very very useful.
