The underbelly of the health system was clearly visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, says philanthropist, and we risk mass amnesia as we come out of it
The underbelly of the health system was clearly visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, says philanthropist, and we risk mass amnesia as we come out of it
Philanthropic couple Sushmita and Subroto Bagchi, and Radha and NS Parthasarathy have collectively donated ₹425 crore to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) to set up a postgraduate medical college and an 800-bed multi-specialty hospital on its Bengaluru campus. Gave. In less than a year, Bagchi had pledged Rs 340 crore to build a cancer hospital and palliative care center in Odisha.
Mr. In conversation with Bagchi, Co-Founder of Mindtree Hindu He talked about why health is the most important place that needs attention and how the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed his views about the word ‘lifelong’.
excerpts from an interview,
Why do you believe that healthcare in India requires a lot of resources, attention and attention?
For a country of 1.3 billion people, we are grossly inadequate in terms of healthcare infrastructure and investments. The big part of this isn’t the hardware, it’s the human capital mismatch. We don’t have enough doctors, nurses, paramedics, hospital beds. As a result, access and equity have suffered huge losses over the past several decades. The bottom line of the healthcare system was clearly visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we risk mass amnesia as we come out of it.
The trouble with us is that we think that big steps in healthcare should always be the government’s job. But if we look at developed countries, great things happened in medical research and healthcare because private individuals came forward to write a check and they had the foresight to move away from it. So did Sloan Kettering (New York’s oldest and largest cancer center). Harvard, Yale and Stanford and Oxford flourished because of the commitment of non-governmental and non-institutional actors of change.
Giving is not that easy, it is a special call. What prepared you and Ms. Sushmita for this?
Before long, Sushmita and I chose to focus on healthcare for personal reasons. Her mother battled cancer and later dementia. My mother was blind and my father had mental health issues. Through deeply personal experiences, deeply personal choices present themselves. That’s how we decided to work on mental health, vision, cancer and aging. We decided to set up a large cancer hospital and a palliative care center in Odisha. It will be one of the largest cancer treatment and care facilities in the country.
Sree Shankara Cancer Foundation of Bengaluru is setting up a 750-bed hospital in Bhubaneswar. Karunashraya, the hugely popular palliative care pioneer, will set up his facility. These two will be adjacent to each other. The Odisha government has given 20 acres of prime land to each of these institutes free of cost. With these two major projects, we need to do something in Karnataka.
What made you a zero in Karnataka and IISc?
Odisha and Karnataka are very dear to us. Odisha has given us life and Karnataka has given us identity. But, we were looking at a potential convergence between health and education. Exactly the same happened with IISc. Project. While our work in Odisha will provide care, our support to IISc. This will lead to path-breaking inter-disciplinary research with bench-to-bed translational implications. This will create a special cadre of scientists-doctors that India desperately needs. The facility will create a new breed of physician-scientists who will pursue careers in clinical research to develop new treatments and health care solutions.
Can you tell us about the highlights of the discussions you had with IISc?
The Government of India had taken a decision that the prestigious Institute. Like IISc. And IITs can start medical schools so that science, engineering and medicine can be under one roof, as is the case with major institutions of the world. But, the caveat was that these institutions were asked to generate their own resources.
Health facilities require massive investment. It can freeze anyone in inaction. But we were stunned when we saw how professional, how professional, a group of leaders at IISc. He went ahead to prepare a blueprint for his ideas. Frankly, when I read his papers, I was asking myself, could I myself have written such a good plan with my decades of institution building experience. He pulled us in.
Bengaluru is already the health capital of India. Why do you think the city needs another health care and training facility?
As I said earlier, India lacks health care research and delivery capacity. Bangalore is better than other places, but not good enough. Not globally comparable. Demographically not enough. But don’t think for a moment except that what is happening is an 800 bedded multi-specialty hospital at IISc. The hospital is the focal point where doctors, physicists, biologists, nano-technologists, software and deep tech experts will learn as much as med-tech start-ups learn. The bigger umbrella is the Institute of Medical Sciences, which will conduct cross-disciplinary research, training, innovation, capacity building. The hospital will be the stage on which they will all perform. This is called the bench-to-bed and bed-to-bench flow of knowledge.
Here new machines and equipment will be designed and tested, new processes will be completed, new vaccines will be designed, developed and tested here. Out of this a new cadre of scientists-doctors will emerge who will be able to lift the large healthcare eco-system in India. This is not yet another fancy hospital. Here the future of medical knowledge will emerge.
Some sections of the public feel a hospital venture in the ancient campus of IISc. It can disturb its calm and peaceful environment, which is important for research related activities. What are your thoughts?
We have been told that the green cover of IISc. will not suffer. The total area of the campus of about 440 acres is only 15 acres. If a tree needs to be moved, there is sufficient technology and capacity available to do so. IISc. The administration is fully committed to protect its environment. We were very impressed with how they carried out their state-of-the-art FabLab without sacrificing a single tree.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your charitable decisions?
This prompted Sushmita and me, as well as Parth and Radha, to rethink the schedule. It gave us a sense of urgency like never before. We had a shared belief that we should spend our money for the greater good in our lifetime. As the COVID-19 pandemic told us, don’t think that a lifetime can be a long time. Keep it up now, it may be too late tomorrow.
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