Fortis managing director Shivinder Mohan Singh with K.S. Iyer, the head of paediatric surgery, at a news conference in New Delhi. Picture by Ramakant Kushwaha

New Delhi, June 4: Escorts Heart Institute today announced the appointment of five new heads of department under the leadership of Dr T.S. Kler, the new executive director, cardiac sciences.

“Dr (Naresh) Trehan played a great role in building up this institution and bringing it on a par with the best in the world. I’ll try to carry his work forward so that we remain at the top in surgery as well as patient care,” Kler told a news conference.

However, Kler, an old hand at Escorts, admitted that the hospital had lost 15 to 20 per cent patients as a result of Trehan’s exit. “Every doctor has a fan following of patients. Some have more, some less. But I think it won’t matter in the long run. Patients will come back to us after comparing the post-operative care,” Kler said.

Shivinder Mohan Singh, managing director of Fortis Healthcare, which has the maximum shareholding in the heart institute, indicated the competition would be between Apollo hospital and Escorts.

“Ultimately, the patient following depends on the institution and not on an individual. Patients also look at support and care — especially post-operative care — where you need a full team and technical expertise. Escorts has that strength and the back flow of patients has already started. I believe over the next couple of weeks, normality will return,” Singh said.

Singh chose not to say anything against Trehan, the former executive director.

Trehan, who formally joined Apollo hospital today, was also guarded in his comments. “It (the controversy) is all over now. I am fine working here and I hope they (Escorts) are also carrying (on with) their job. Let us put an end to all this,” he said.

But Trehan did not agree to Escorts’s claim that 20 to 25 doctors and an equal number of para-medical staff had left with him. “Over 50 doctors who mattered and around 100 people from para-medical have come with me,” he said.

Ten patients have been registered under Trehan at Apollo and he will perform his first surgery on Wednesday.

To drive home the point that the doctors who left with Trehan did not matter, Singh said: “We are not looking at any replacements. We are not at all concerned because the talent has stayed back.”

He, however, accepted that the row with Trehan did make a dent in the company’s share price, bringing it down by 4 per cent last week. “It happens. Markets do reflect when things are not well. But today, I heard that Fortis has gained the lost ground,” Singh said.