Published Jun 29, 2026 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jun 29, 2026 | 7:00 AM
Osmania medical college. (Wikimedia)
Synopsis: A study has found that Osmania Medical College produces more than three times as many research publications each year as Telangana’s five major private hospitals combined, despite operating with fewer resources. The authors argue that private hospitals give priority to clinical work and revenue over research, with limited incentives, weak data systems and poor academic infrastructure contributing to low research output.
Every year, thousands of patients walk through the doors of Telangana’s private hospitals. Apollo Health City, CARE Hospitals, Yashoda, Sunshine, Medicover: these are names the city trusts. Names that appear on hoardings, on insurance panels, on the lips of families navigating serious illness.
Little of what those hospitals learn from their patients reaches a medical journal.
A study published in the BMJ Journal of Medical Evidence has put numbers to what many in the field have long suspected. Telangana’s five major private hospitals together produce an average of 116 research publications a year. Osmania Medical College, a government institution, produces 402.
One government college. More than three times the output of the entire private sector combined.
Also Read: Chink in the armour: How surgical gloves exposed gaps in medical device procurement process
The study, authored by surgeons Samiran Nundy and Parmanand Tiwari, compared research output between 2021 and 2025 across private hospitals and teaching institutions in India, and leading hospitals in the United States, China and the United Kingdom.
The study measures output through publication counts in major databases, including Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar. It does not evaluate the quality, impact or clinical relevance of individual studies.
Within Telangana, the picture tells its own story.
Apollo Health City in Hyderabad leads the state’s private hospitals with 61 publications per year, ranking 12th among the top 50 private hospitals nationally. CARE Hospitals Hyderabad follows with 16, Yashoda Hospitals with 15, Sunshine Hospitals with 14 and Medicover Hospitals with 10.
Combined, they reach 116. Osmania Medical College sits at 402.
AIIMS Bibinagar, the state’s second government teaching institution, adds 77 publications annually, bringing the government sector total to 479. That is more than four times what the private sector produces.
The national number in this study is striking: one American hospital, the Mayo Clinic, produces more research annually than the authors estimate India’s entire private hospital sector generates.
But for Telangana, the local comparison carries its own force.
Osmania Medical College does not operate with the resources of a corporate hospital chain. It does not carry the brand recognition of Apollo or the infrastructure of Medicover. It runs on government funding, serves a high volume of patients from lower-income groups and works within the constraints of a public institution.
It still produces three times more research.
Also Read: The human body has limits. Climate change is testing them on the playing field
Telangana’s private hospitals carry a significant share of the state’s patient load. They see tuberculosis, dengue, antimicrobial resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular disease at a scale that generates data other countries would mine aggressively.
That data largely vanishes once the patient leaves the ward.
The authors of the study argue that this is not an accident. It reflects choices, structures and incentives that consistently push research to the bottom of the priority list.
“In the private sector it is generally thought to be a waste of time and money,” the authors write.
The authors argue that many private hospitals prioritise clinical activity and revenue generation over academic work, leaving little institutional incentive for research. A full outpatient schedule generates income. A published paper does not, at least not in any way that registers on a quarterly balance sheet.
Doctors working in these hospitals carry no incentive to publish. They receive no protected time, no financial reward and no career advancement through research. The result is that clinicians who might otherwise contribute to the literature simply do not.
The study cites evidence that institutions which produce high-quality research also deliver better patient care. Research sharpens clinical thinking. Clinical experience generates research questions. Hospitals that do neither remain static.
“There is a neglect of the enormous data that can be accessed from Indian patients,” the authors write.
The study identifies barriers that connect to each other.
Few private hospitals in Telangana or elsewhere in India run electronic medical record systems that cover their full patient population. Without records, there is no data. Without data, there is no research. Patients arrive, receive treatment and leave no trace in the scientific literature.
The authors also argue that India’s education system continues to reward memorisation more than scientific inquiry. Postgraduate theses, which could feed the research pipeline, mostly gather dust. Students compile them quickly at the end of their training and rarely publish. The knowledge disappears before it can circulate.
“In spite of its 1.4 billion population, 1 lakh doctors, 44,000 hospitals and 800 medical colleges, the research output from this country, which is one of the hallmarks of good medical care, is very low compared with the USA, UK and, surprisingly, China,” the authors write.
Also Read: South First Impact: CDSCO debars two HCG Bengaluru doctors from clinical trials
The study does not stop at diagnosis. The authors call on medium and large private hospitals to establish formal academic programmes, including Diplomate of National Board courses, and to build partnerships with universities.
They want hospitals to introduce financial incentives for clinicians who research and publish. They push for wider adoption of electronic medical records, arguing that without a functioning data infrastructure, research remains impossible regardless of intent.
The broader argument is structural. Private hospitals must stop treating research as a distraction and start understanding it as something that builds institutional reputation, improves clinical outcomes and, over time, attracts patients.
“Publication enhances institute branding as well as clinical excellence,” the authors write. “Hospital administrators should realise that instead of focusing on revenue and patient numbers.”
“We therefore recommend that private hospitals in India with and without medical colleges must evolve into academic healthcare systems,” the authors conclude. “This will result in quality improvement, better patient outcomes and the institution will acquire a national and perhaps a global reputation.”
