He is inspired by the teaching of Swami Vivekananda and wants to make health and education a social movement and a national goal. He is quite techno-savvy and has not only a website of his own but is also active on social media sites.
The country’s new Health Minister started his tenure by wishing India good health. “My innings as Union Health Minister commences today. Need the good wishes and blessings of India. Wish you good health,” the minister tweeted on May 27, 2014.
He is said to be remarkably accessible and has a hands-on style of functioning. He held the portfolios of Education, Health and Law in the Delhi government between 1993 and 1998 and is known for initiating the pulse polio programme. He believes that a new and integrated holistic system of medicine is the need of the hour, which should incorporate the best of all systems including Ayurveda, Siddha, Yoga, Naturopathy, Homeopathy (AYUSH) and our other ancient systems.
The second child of late Om Prakash Goel and Snehlata, Dr Harsh Vardhan was born in December 13, 1954. He has an older sister and younger brother. Young Harsh Vardhan did his schooling from different schools in the Chandni Chowk area and went to Kanpur to attend the GSVM Medical College, from where he obtained his MBBS and later MS with specialisation in ENT. He returned to Delhi and set up a private practice as an ENT surgeon. But his restless soul, which had manifested itself earlier and drawn him towards the RSS, persuaded him to take up projects for the betterment of the society. He joined the Indian Medical Association’s Delhi Chapter and worked hard in East Delhi, which is his immediate neighbourhood, to build up a solidarity of medical practitioners. He held various posts in the Delhi Medical Association – from Secretary and President (East Delhi) to State Secretary and President, where he showed early signs of his leadership qualities.
Today, India is a ‘Polio Free Country’ certified by World Health Organisation (WHO) along with other countries in the South East Asia region. On January 13, 2014, India completed three full years without a single new case of polio being reported –the last of the cases having been reported on January 12, 2011 in Howrah district of West Bengal.
He was also instrumental in bringing the first ever anti-tobacco legislation in India. In 1997, under his bold leadership, the Delhi Prohibition of Smoking and Non-Smokers Health Protection Act was passed.
A major pioneering initiative of Dr Harsh Vardhan was implementing WHO’s Essential Drug Programme, which revolutionised government’s attitudes on public healthcare. Under the concept, maximum budgetary outlay was apportioned to those drugs which were most needed by the people. It was henceforth known as the ‘Delhi Model’ and taken up by several foreign countries and at least a dozen state governments in India. The Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational use of Drugs, which is a powerful movement now, was thus born and Dr Harsh Vardhan continues to be associated with its progress.
His missionary zeal touched other areas of healthcare as well. Under him, Delhi’s Maulana Azad Medical College got the country’s first ever Department for Occupational and Environmental Health. He launched the Matri Suraksha Programme to ensure proper mother and childcare for Delhi’s middle and lower income groups. The Cancer Control Programme, the Cataract Free Delhi Programme and the Shravan Shakti Abhiyan for the rehabilitation of the elderly and the hearing impaired, were begun under his leadership. His administration also launched the Healthy City Project, the Hepatitis B Immunisation Programme and a Delhi Research Centre for Modernised Promotion of Ayurveda. Two other significant pieces of legislation that bear his stamp are the Delhi Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Act as well as Delhi Artificial Insemination Act.
Dr Harsh Vardhan promotes the ‘human face’ of medicine and says that considerable effort is needed to inculcate these virtues among our budding physicians. He strongly feels that the biggest challenge is to change the mind-set of our healers so that the poor and needy do not feel unwanted.
Dr Harsh Vardhan also believes that organisations and associations like Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Rotary and Lions International with branches all over, and numerous social and philanthropic organisations representing important groups of citizens may be roped in to build a strong movement of ‘health for all’. They may be motivated to divert part of their energy and resources to take up health issues and become active partners in the endeavour of preventing illness and promotion of health. They may be urged to wholeheartedly support government initiatives on positive health, rehabilitation and care of the disabled.
He says that a total attitudinal transformation of people in thought, action and belief based on our ancient culture is required to make health a meaningful and purposeful concept so that everyone visualises himself as a guardian and defender of environment and health.
A number of prestigious social organisations have honoured Dr Harsh Vardhan with awards and recognitions. The WHO recognised his contribution to society and awarded him the Director-General’s Commendation Medal at a prestigious function held in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, in May 1998. In 1994, he received the ‘IMA President’s Special Award of Appreciation’ and was given the ‘IMA Special Award to Eminent Medical Men for Distinguished Achievement of Highest Order’ for two successive years – 1995 and 1996. On ‘Doctor’s Day’, July 1, 2002, he was named ‘Doctor of the Last Decade’ (Swastha Ratna) by the New Delhi branch of the Indian Medical Association for being the “noblest medical campaigner of the last decade”.
Married to Nutan, a specialist in hospital administration who preferred to be a homemaker, Dr Harsh Vardhan has two sons – Dr Mayank Bharat, who has done his MBBS and MBA from Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. Younger son, Sachin who did his Accountancy and Finance graduation from Monash University in Australia is at present completing a course in Certified Public Accounting (CPA). His daughter, Inakshi, graduated with B.Com (Hons) from Delhi University and went on to take a MBA degree from Amity University. Dr Mayank and Inakshi work in the corporate sector.
(Compiled by Neelam Kachhap)