In a study that compared various countries on the basis of maternal and neonatal healthcare solutions available, India fell well below the 100th ranked out of 164. Today, neonatal mortality rates still present graver statistics than post-neonatal deaths, with 7,48,000 newborns still dying each year from largely preventable causes. At the same time, the high numbers of stillbirths in the country have largely remained invisible. About 5,72,000 babies are stillborn each year, the highest number in the world. And yet, the statistic is under-reported. Constraints exist as it relates to resources regarding investments in this field.
Despite the efforts so far, India is a vast country with various places still to be reached. To solve these critical problems, Cloudnine Group of Hospitals provide the best maternal, gynaecological, fertility, neonatal and paediatric care which spectacularly expand across India, specifically in Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurugram, Pune, Mumbai and Chandigarh. To ensure a healthy and happy pregnancy, Cloudnine provides world-class medical expertise, state-of-the-art facilities, a space filled with love and laughter and staff dedicated to the holistic well-being of you and your baby. Their medical expertise and comprehensive care extend well past maternity services including high-risk pregnancy care, gynaecology, paediatrics, neonatal care, fertility, and foetal medicine.
A Visionary Leader Transforming Thoughts into Reality
Cloudnine Group of Hospitals was set up in 2007 by the renowned neonatologist Dr. R. Kishore Kumar – Chairman, in partnership with investing partners Sequoia Capital and True North (IVFA previously), as India’s premier destination for comprehensive maternal health.
Dr. Kishore completed his MBBS from Gulbarga University and followed it up with a DCH from Mysore University and London. He went on to secure an MD from Mysore University, MRCP (Paed) and FRCPCH from the UK, and MRCPI (Paed) and an FRCPI from Ireland. He also completed his Fellowship in Neonatal ICU with an FRACP from Melbourne, Australia. At the time, Dr. Kishore was amongst the youngest and highest qualified neonatologists in the world. His top most honours to date remain the felicitation he received from the former US President Bill Clinton for his contribution in the field of neonatology.
Dr. Kishore’s Inception Story to build Cloudnine
Soon after completing his MD (Paed), Dr. Kishore left India in 1989, to subspecialise in neonatology (a subspecialty of paediatrics that involves the medical care of newborns and premature infants). At that time, India hadn’t yet introduced subspecialty courses. During his tenure in the UK, as he undertook the accredited training, he noticed that the neonatal and maternal mortality rates were far lower than those of India. And he observed the same trend through his experiences in Australia and the USA.
After spending nearly 18 years overseas, across continents, Dr. Kishore felt a deep inclination to return to India to help raise quality and service standards in maternal and neonatal care. That’s the time when Dr. Kishore and his wife conceived the idea of starting a boutique maternal and neonatal care hospital in India. It was an idea that was keeping with his philosophy that ‘pregnancy is wellness, not an illness’ and they endeavoured to ensure that mothers at their facility received the best care in the world. When they decided to launch Cloudnine, the prospect of an exclusive neonatal and maternal hospital was still considered niche and out of the ordinary, and so they relied on friends, family, and well-wishers for support.
Turning Hurdles into Success
Initially, Cloudnine struggled a lot as Dr. Kishore had to wear multiple hats. He was the CEO, the Managing Director, and a practising neonatologist, all rolled into one. Once Cloudnine gained traction and started seeing success, they then appointed a professional CEO along with other requisite functional heads. By this time, they had begun growing exponentially. Dr. Kishore relinquished his role as Managing Director and took charge as Chairman, overseeing institutional growth.
As an internationally acclaimed neonatologist who has worked in North America, the UK, Asia and Australia, Dr. Kishore had seen and experienced first-hand features of world-class infrastructure, facilities, and medical care, which were collectively capable of saving lives of both mothers and babies. Along with his wife and two other co-founders, he established Cloudnine Group of Hospitals in 2006 to realise his vision of high-quality maternity and neonatal healthcare in India on par with the international standards. As the Founding Chairman and Chief Neonatologist, Dr. Kishore has been instrumental in propelling Cloudnine to the pinnacle of the maternity and neonatal landscape today.
Serving Revolutionising Maternal Care with Efficient Patient Expertise
Before Cloudnine, India didn’t have a specialised mother and child care hospital or institution, so the concept itself was foreign to the nation. As an entity, Cloudnine’s array of initiatives across spheres is a reflection of bias for action. Their suite of maternity programmes, for instance, is a unique one in the country including Prenatal Workshops, an award-winning Management of Baby Affairs programme, Prenatal Yoga & Aerobics Sessions, and Baby Shower celebration which together provides expectant mothers with premium professional guidance and care, both sterling ingredients of a healthy pregnancy. Cloudnine always strives to innovate to stay competitive with evolving technologies like:
- Level-III NICU with GE Giraffe incubators, a hi-tech single bed to care for the newborns, which removes the hassle of shifting babies from one bed to another.
- Analytics to figure out the incidence of gestational diabetes in a population set to allow doctors to predict a patient’s propensity to get gestational diabetes.
- Wearable or smartphone-based technology to track vitals and other medical information of pregnant mothers, which will sync information to hospital staff whenever mothers check into the hospital portal.
- Content on an app for patients to understand pregnancy and also connect with their doctors on the app for ensuring simplicity and efficiency.
- Other post-pregnancy services like monitoring the health of the baby through a wearable.
Highly Acclaimed and Accepted Innovations
With a whole lot of love and an arsenal of scientifically developed programmes, Cloudnine design immersive prenatal workshops for parents. Their flagship Management of Baby Affairs (MBA) programme eases expectant parents into their new roles. The array of nutrition, fitness, Lamaze and lactation sessions work in conjunction with each other, to ensure a happy pregnancy and happy delivery.
Cloudnine also encourages parents to preserve stem cells from their baby’s umbilical cord at birth. These cells aid in restoring and regenerating damaged tissues later on in baby’s life.
“Once your baby is born, you may find that you need a helping hand while you settle into your new routine at home. Through our singular Cloudnine Care at Home programme, our maternity caregivers impart confidence in new mothers by guiding them through breastfeeding, burping techniques and postoperative wound care in the comfort of their homes,” says Dr. Kishore.
Cloudnine’s success is attributed to having a team of both clinical and non-clinical professionals, a holistic approach towards mother and child care, with belief in the core idea that “pregnancy is wellness and not an illness.”
‘Cure with Care’ – Secret Sauce for Success
“Patients don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” as said by Theodore Roosevelt and ‘Cure with Care’ is the secret of their success. Cloudnine shares a personal, special relationship with every guest those who choose to start their journey with Cloudnine. And in doing so, they embark on nine months of wonder, joy, and discovery, together. This helps them to let guests enjoy ‘the Cloudnine experience’ which plays a vital role in building long-term relations, standing tall on:
Clinical Excellence
Cloudnine’s seasoned medical team consists of the best doctors in the country, who are ably underpinned by an extensive panel of specialised nurses. Their superior technology enables them to welcome babies as premature as 24 weeks, and they are always prepared for an emergency with their state-of-the-art Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), labour delivery rooms and operation theatres. They are always reinventing and innovating maternity care in the country. Today, Cloudnine welcomes over 1,000 miracles a month, a testimony of the golden thread of faith that runs through it, binding so many families together.
Customer Centricity
“Our aim is to “Wow” them and to give them an enjoyable and memorable experience. This is our guiding principle in all our decisions,” proffers Dr. Kishore.
Cloudnine Companion is always there throughout the pregnancy journey equipping with:
Briefing on services, introducing to the team of specialists, keeping expecting mothers updated with upcoming milestones, reminders, etc.
Expanding Geographical Footprints
Cloudnine’s journey germinates from the vision of providing premier quality healthcare to women and children that India hasn’t witnessed yet, by thriving to expand their network across geographies by setting up four new facilities each year across the country.
“We strive to expand our network across geographies while maintaining our singular focus on women and children. We intend to do this with better partnerships, innovation, and clinical excellence through better systems, quality, and education. We are also looking at opportunities to provide international standards of care to the public through a public-private partnership model. We believe that we have a lot to contribute to Indian public healthcare system where patient caregiving can be managed better,” assures Dr. Kishore.
“Until we reach the unreachable, we have numerous things to do. The fact that we have achieved a polio-free status in India, gives us hope that a single-digit mortality rate per 1000 live births in India is possible very soon,” asserts Dr. Kishore.
