Industry veterans discuss the concept of sustainability in healthcare at the two-day conference
Clairvoyance, the annual signature event of the School of Health Systems Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, recently organised a two-day conference on the concept of sustainability in health and healthcare.
The conference had speakers from the field of healthcare speaking on various sub-themes of the conference. The inaugural address was given by K Sujatha Rao, Former Union Secretary with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, who was also the chief guest. She took the delegates through the successful journey of National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and emphasised on the need for continuous efforts to sustain the achievement made so far.
The conference was attended by delegates from institutes across the country such as JIPMER, CMC Vellore, Goa Institute of Management, IIHMR Jaipur, KEM, Nair Hopital, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center etc.
Abhay Bang, Director, SEARCH spoke about ‘Aarogya-Swaraj Sustainable Health at the micro-level’ and Prof Gautam Sen, Founder and Chairman, Healthspring gave a speech on the need and vision for primary care in the country.
Prof R Ramakumar, Dean, School of Development Studies talked about ‘Sustainable Development and Food Security and Nutrition’ and Dr Nobhojit Roy, Surgeon and Public Health Specialist spoke about ‘environmental determinants of health and water supply and sanitation.’ He also said that achieving health is not just focusing on the Goal 3 of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but it is also about addressing the other SDGs that indirectly have an impact on the health of the individual and the community as a whole.
A session was also held on ‘Stakeholders’ Onus — Taking Action Together,’ which was moderated by Prof T Sundaram. The panelists were Dr Amit Sengupta, Associate Global Coordinator, People’s Health Movement; Dr Indranil Mukhopadhay from Public Health Foundation of India; Dr Kaushik Sen, Chief Executive Officer and Co Founder, Healthspring and Dr Salima Bhatia, Senior Consultant, Maternal Health Division, MoHFW. They discussed their roles towards sustainable health and healthcare systems.
The second day’s first session was on ‘360 degree Innovations: Revolutionising sustainable care in hospitals’. The session had Dr A Lingaiah, Director – Medical Services, Yashoda Hospitals; Dr MI Sahadulla, Chairman and Managing Director, KIMS Healthcare Group and Neeraj Garg, Chief Executive Officer, Apollo Health and Lifestyle.
Dr Lingaiah said, “Administration is the backbone of the hospital.” He talked about financial sustainability and about Yashoda Hospitals going for day-care surgeries. Dr Sahadulla talked about innovation in IT, how India needs to catch up in healthcare delivery, quality and accreditation in reducing costs, patient-centric care, medical travel etc. Neeraj Garg gave examples of disruptive business innovations, innovation and reinvention, ambulatory care in India.
Session two was on tertiary care reach strategy. The panelists were Dr Prem Nair, Medical Director, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences; Dr Rakesh Verma, Group Head Training and Organisational Development, Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital and Mohini Daljeet Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Max India Foundation.
Singh gave an insight about Max Foundation’s CSR initiatives. She said that CSR must be a fast track parallel solution, healthcare awareness through immunisation, talks and screening videos.
The conference also looked into ‘Home grown models: India’s answers to sustainability’. The speakers were Dr Raman Kataria, Co-Founder and Secretary, Jan Swasthya Sahyog and Garima Gupta Kapila.
The last session was chaired by Prof Shalini Bharat. The speakers were Frederika Saksena, UNFPA representative; Priyanka Saksena, Technical Officer, WHO and Dr Amit Sengupta, Associate Global Coordinator, People’s Health Movement. They all highlighted the role of these global institutions in the journey towards sustainability.
The conference also had three exclusive contests for student delegates. Poster presentations were also held. The event concluded with an address by Prof S Parasuraman, Director, TISS.