Managing Hospitals: lessons to learn from the French experience

When 24 managers and chief physicians from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan crossed a distance of over 6,217 kilometres to the city of Paris, France, they may have had an objective in mind, but little did they expect their minds to discover new visions of medical breakthroughs and opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships. This trip was jointly organized by the Russian Medical Association and the National Medical Association of the Republic of Kazakhstan, on offshoot of the close relationship between both countries. It was organized for the benefit of some of their members, cutting across public and private hospitals in both countries. The delegation to France was representative of this diversity.

These delegates had one central mission: to learn about the healthcare system in France, with a focus on public hospitals and the organization of emergency services. The importance of this trip cannot be downplayed, considering the fact that France is No. 1 in the world on WHO (World Health Organization) rankings for the overall performance of its healthcare system. Kazakhstan ranks 64th, while Russia is a distant 130th. Both countries clearly have a lot to learn from France. For most of the participants, this was their first time in the city of Paris, France.

The delegates visited the Directorate of the French Hospitals Federation, the union of public hospitals in the country. They also visited the Bichat Claude-Bernard Hospital, a public teaching hospital founded in 1882. They also visited two private medical institutions, known as the Foch Hospital and Porte de Saint-Cloud. All this happened within the span of 6 days. It might have been short, but the participants left with insights and partnerships to take the healthcare institutions in their own countries to the next level.

For instance, they learnt about the organization of emergency health services in Paris, which like most of the country, is privately and separately organized by general practitioners, and has a high response rate. They also learnt about the structure and principles of the public and private healthcare institutions. They also learnt about the position of private healthcare institutions in France, which have some of their costs defrayed by the government, to reduce the financial burden on the patient. From these sessions, they had fruitful discussions about the possibility of Franco-Russian cooperation in the healthcare sector. They were also exposed to the latest healthcare technology for the treatment of patients and hospital management.