India spends just over 1 per cent of its GDP on public healthcare, with the goal of raising it to 2.5 per cent GDP in the next few years
WISH Foundation announced the joining of Dr Dipanjan Sujit Roy as the CEO of LEHS|WISH, an organisation known for its innovative approaches to addressing primary healthcare challenges in India since 2015. The organisation, currently focuses on the roll-out of their successful, award-winning Technology-Enabled Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) works in public-private-partnership in the states of Rajasthan, Delhi, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, with plans for expansion into Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
Dr Roy is a MBBS from AFMC and has completed his MD in Social and Preventive Medicine from Kolkata. He is also a Diplomate of National Board from India and Member of prestigious National Academy of Medical Sciences (MNAMS). He is also a life member of Indian Public Health Association (IPHA) and Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine (IAPSM). He brings in 25+ years of experience in the field of public health in communicable and non-communicable alike. He has worked in many countries and with various organisations such as WHO, CDC, USAID, Government of India besides with Ministries of Health in many developing countries. He has many publications to his credit and has been instrumental in bringing policy changes in primary health and related programs. In view of his contributions to public health in developing countries, he was awarded, “Global Health Achievement – India” in 2009 by CDC.
- Pioneering tech-healthcare organisation, the WISH Foundation appoints Dr Dipanjan Sujit Roy as the CEO of LEHS |WISH to scale its innovation and technology-enabled models of primary healthcare delivery in India.
- The organisation works in public-private-partnership and collaborates with governments and donors alike, to meet their goal of reaching 200 million people with high-quality primary healthcare by 2027.
Welcoming Dr Roy to LEHS|WISH, Mr Sunil Wadhwani, Founder-Donor of WISH remarked, “I am pleased that as a young organisation, WISH has already served 10 million people with quality healthcare services. With Dr Roy at the helm, the organisation is poised now for its next phase of growth. I can foresee India leapfrogging the primary healthcare challenge with our service delivery models that incorporate innovation and technology, and are for the first time in the country, introducing Artificial Intelligence in primary healthcare.”
Notably, India spends just over 1 per cent of its GDP on public healthcare, with the goal of raising it to 2.5 per cent GDP in the next few years. Meanwhile, rural and remote communities are underserved with low doctor density and healthcare worker shortage, which WISH is trying to address.
At his joining, Dr Dipanjan Roy said: “It is a great honor to be part of WISH. Technology is one of the key mantras to address the plethora of challenges that primary healthcare presents. I am thankful to Mr Wadhwani for his intent, concept and overarching support for strengthening the primary healthcare sector in India. We will leave no stone unturned to make quality health care accessible, feasible and without financial hardship to the consumer”.
Giving an insight into the future goals of the organisation, Mr Sunil Tewari, President of the Board of LEHS|WISH stated, “With the knowledge and technical skills gained in the past year from our pilot of technology-enabled Health and Wellness centre model aligned with the National Health Policy of 2017, we are now focused at scaling-up this model in multiple EAG States. When scaled, this initiative has the potential to reach 800 million population across the country. I invite partnerships from the philanthropic sector to join us in this important effort.”
WISH Foundation’s mission is to scale-up high-impact innovations to build an equitable healthcare system and make quality primary healthcare accessible and available to underserved populations in developing countries.