Championing Ethical Healthcare
An ordinary boy who grew up in the cities of Varanasi, worked in a small rural hospital in North Bihar for 2 years, and followed his passion of pursuing internal medicine and Cardiology as a career track — changed the entire dynamics of Healthcare sector in India.
Healthcare Executive takes the insights of that ordinary boy aka Dr Sunil Chandy who transformed himself in the course of his journey and became not only the Director of CMC Vellore in 2012 but also advocated the institution to a major expansion.
Dr Sunil Chandy, the Ex- Director of CMC Vellore, believes that “medicine is not a career but a calling.” With an M Phil degree in Hospital Administration and an advanced leadership from Haggai Institute, Doctor Chandy feels that he is among the privileged few who has the freedom and liberty to transform the status of the people who are ravaged by ill-health by keeping them in the centre of his attention. “As an individual I am enriched by the combination of my profession and the ethos of my Alma Mater.” Doctor Chandy explains.
For the clinician Sunil Chandy, the focus is to transform the healthcare status of the country so that it becomes a model for the world; for the administrator Sunil Chandy, the focus is to create India as the preferred healthcare destination of the world and last but not the least, for the ever compassionate Sunil Chandy the focus is to build the nation where healthcare is ethical, honest and reliable.
Throughout the last decade we have witnessed how the healthcare sector is not only a confluence of epidemiological, political, financial change but also how it is gradually evolving to use the new innovative technological advances like Artificial Intelligence, Robotic surgeries amongst others to perform certain care giving procedures for the betterment of the patients. But in the art of mimicking the West we still find a major section of the people who cries out for basic healthcare.
Interweaving of Technology and Empathy
Professor Chandy thinks that technology is potentially transformative, but the cost of care, access and availability of these technological interventions are the fundamental crisis that persists there. The healthcare sector in India needs to collaborate, consolidate and strategize on these fundamentals as the needed preface to prove wonders of technology ahead. Dr Chandy, being extremely pragmatic, believes that technology is innovative only when it can benefit the largest section of society. He gives the example of Google Maps in this context and elaborates on how it has brought value to the commuters because of its transformative nature and cost effectiveness. From the medical point of view, he gave the example of telemedicine and shows how it is creating an impact on the lives of the people by being value-based and cost effective on one hand and harnessing the best of technologies on the other. “Technology is a good slave, but a poor master. It must be kept subjugate to human discretion and intellect. Innovation at unaffordable costs is of no value” he adds.
‘Tender, love and care’ is the Mantra
One of the biggest challenges the healthcare sector facing today is how the healthcare policies and future strategies are driven by business interests rather than patient interests. In this context, the doctor comments, “Empathy and civility is an attitude that should be part of healthcare’s DNA.” He elaborates his point by saying, “Competence with compassion has greater depth and the potential to heal. This cannot be legislated or enforced. It has to come from within the medical fraternity as a non-negotiable foundation stone of healthcare.”
India is a country where there exists the dichotomy between the ways in which healthcare is delivered from time immemorial. Perhaps one small trip to a hinterland will make the conscience of the people jog to life. Hence Dr Chandy who has always been sensitive about these issues, affirms that “the future leaders have to invest in this by keeping aside financial outcomes as the primary goal.” He also talks about investing time, talent and treasures into uplifting the health status of the country. He believes that if every hospital reaches out to one village for preventive, promotive and prescriptive care then the whole healthcare system will transform itself.
New way of approaching Healthcare
Dr Chandy is very optimistic in his approach and is confident about the fact that the best doctors in the world come from India. The academician Chandy believes that if healthcare is delivered well in a country, then it can act as an economic enabler — and especially for a country like India, health can be used to drive personal, social and economic prosperity: “I would like to do everything to push this goal. I believe unless health and education are enhanced, we will lag behind the rest of the world.” He suggests that the healthcare sector can adopt a new way towards healthcare delivery process by incorporating the values of kindness, empathy and brotherhood into their system by providing value-based training. “If we adopt a new way of approaching healthcare as a service and not as an industry, India can be a pioneer in leading the world” he says, “and in so doing, we can also be immensely profitable to support the various stakeholders that support healthcare.” Dr Sunil Chandy envisions to make India a nation where healthcare is ethical, reliable, honest and effective.