Blood Tests At Rs 7, ECG At Rs 25. My Mother Decides The Rates: Khan Sir On His Hospital Projects In Patna

By Brijam Pandey

Patna: Education and healthcare have been the most expensive items in the average Indian's monthly budget for a long time. It is often said that large swathes of even India's middle class are one hospital admission away from precarity.

In Patna, the capital of one of India's poorest and most populous states, education — especially private tuition for competitive examinations — has been transformed through one man's initiative. With his free tutorials for the poor, Faisal Khan, better known as Khan Sir, has carved a niche, allowing underprivileged students of Bihar crack competitive exams for jobs. His YouTube channel has millions of student subscribers for his in-depth explanations of complex subjects in easy-to-understand language. With his irreverent, often combative takes on everyday politics, he has also become an influencer with a huge fan following across India.

Having emphasised affordable healthcare in his YouTube shows, Khan Sir is now set to put his money where his mouth is — launch a chain of private hospitals that promise to offer quality treatment at costs that are so low, they are bound to raise eyebrows — blood tests at Rs 7, ECGs at Rs 25, X-rays Rs 35, full body checkups at Rs 1,000. To start with, he plans to launch five such hospitals across Patna.

In a wide-ranging conversation with ETV Bharat Bihar Bureau Chief Brijam Pandey, Khan Sir explained his motive and inspiration, among other things. Excerpts:

ETV Bharat (ETB): How will treatment be provided at such low rates? What is the formula you are using?

Khan Sir: We are establishing this hospital keeping in mind the trouble a middle-class person faces in hospitals. Often, for major treatments, one has to take a loan and repay the debt by selling land. My grandfather taught me in my childhood that what you give back to society is important. He used to say in Bhojpuri, "Be proud of how much you can give back to society, not how much you earn." That is my objective.

ETB: Still, how can these tests be done at such low rates?

Khan Sir: Other private hospitals might be charging exorbitant prices for tests, but we can't demand such amounts from people who are on the verge of death. Raise tax on luxury items like ACs, tax four-wheeler buyers and those who shop at malls. But how can you take money from someone who is dying... On ventilator?

The minimum daily cost in an ICU is Rs 50,000-70,000. If a person stays in ICU for 10 days, he pays a bill running over Rs 5 lakh. Even a middle-class person will fall into debt, and be forced to mortgage jewellery, sell land and property at half value.

Lots of people in Patna come to him and ask, "Sir, I'm not well, please recommend a good doctor." They go on to share their pain. I am from the land of [Dashrath] Manjhi, who carved a mountain [to create a shortcut from his village to the nearest hospital]. So how can I rely on others?

ETB: How many hospitals are you opening?

Khan Sir: Currently, we are building five separate hospitals for neurology, cardiology, cancer, kidney diseases and diagnostics. There is a lot of workload. Besides teaching, I have to do a lot of other work. Sometimes, I even get confused about which hospital I'm in.

ETB: You teach people and motivate them. How did you suddenly shift your focus from education to healthcare?

Khan Sir: Education and healthcare in India are divided into categories. The education of the rich is different from that of the poor. We have leveled the playing field. We brought down the fees from Rs 2-2.5 lakh to a very low amount, while maintaining high quality. The same is true with healthcare. Look at the hospitals for the rich; they have machines worth crores of rupees, while the roofs of hospitals for the poor are collapsing.

Our hospitals will be inaugurated after Kharmas. But already, people are telling me they feel a special connection with them. A patient visited one of our hospitals while work was still ongoing. There was a piece of plastic lying around. He picked it up, put it in the dustbin, and said, "This is dirty. This is our hospital, isn't it?".

ETB: There is a lot of favouritism and crowding in big hospitals. How will you avoid that?

Khan Sir: That's why we are building 4-5 hospitals. Patients will be shifted to wherever they need to go. If there is only one hospital, all patients will go there, causing crowding. Each patient has a different problem, so my hospitals will be specialised. Along with treatment, there will also be research on diseases. They will make case studies. For example, why are some patients coming from the same district? What is their age group? Are they vegetarian or not? What is the nature of their diet?

ETB: But how will you make the rates for diagnostic tests affordable?

Khan Sir: Most things will be done using AI and AI incorporated machines. For example, with ultrasound machines, AI will detect problems in the diagnosis, reducing human error and costs.

An MRI scan costs Rs 7,000, but if no disease is found, the patient feels the were unnecessarily asked to undergo the test. Our AI equipped machine will first conduct a thorough screening of the patient, for Rs 1,000. If no disease is detected, there will be no need for an MRI. If a disease is suspected, a team of doctors will examine it from every angle, and all this will cost only Rs 1,800.

ETB: The plan for hospitals must have been in the works for a long time. You must have done lot of research, met doctors from India and abroad...

Khan Sir: We have been planning this for a long time. I have many good friends who are doctors. Doctors associated with hospitals don't like me very much, but doctors in general like me a lot. Several doctors are cooperating with us in some way or another. Problem is not with doctors, but with those who open their own hospitals.

In Patna, rich people have doctors who are different from those for poor people. We are different. If someone is rich enough to come in a Mercedes, we'll charge them Rs 8 lakh instead of Rs 1,800. They won't mind. But if someone is getting out of an auto-rickshaw, and you prescribe them tests costing Rs 10,000-15,000, where will they get the money from?

ETB: There's a lot of speculation about you being so popular that you could enter politics and run for elections...

Khan Sir: If those who practice politics face any problems, tell them we are ready to teach them too. We will explain everything from Aristotle and Plato to economics. We teach politics, we don't practice politics, as we don't have the time. Looking at the condition of government hospitals and schools, I would myself lock them up. We are like military men.

ETB: What do your parents feel about your work?

Khan Sir: My parents are very happy. My grandfather is no longer alive. My mother decides the rates for the tests conducted at the hospital. There's a creatinine test required before dialysis and other procedures can be performed. I think it can be done for Rs 7-8.

After doctors at the hospital tell us how much a test costs, I go to my mother and show her the rate chart. Is she says we need to reduce it, that's what we do.

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