In 10 years India will have the best mass health programme
Mr.Devi Shetty, Founder, Narayana Hrudayalaya says “If I had a choice, I would only treat poor patients, but economic realities do not permit that. But here is Dr.Sudarshan, using his place in the policy-making process to harness available resources for productive, effective delivery of healthcare in the backwoods. Having joined forces with him, I have already seen telemedicine working for the rural poor, in Chamarajnagar, and we are going places.
My aim : to eliminate one disease at a time. Monumental changes begin small. It was Margaret Mead who said : `Who says the World can’t be changed by a small thing?’ When the Yeshaswini Health Insurance Scheme for farmers was launched, everyone was sceptical. Now there is a chair in Harvard to study the idea. The scalability of these ideas is what makes them different. We are now taking the Arogya Raksha to more villages. We are going to work in Anekal taluk. Can you imagine what a difference it makes to the villager to know how far his Rs.5 goes in getting medical care?
Again this is a collaboration, between Karuna Trust, Narayana Hrudayalaya and Biocon to address healthcare needs of the community.
The telemedicine project started in Chamarajnagar first, and then ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) went along with us all the way. Now this unique project to save lives is 110 centres strong in the country. Post tsunami, the Andamans relied extensively on it. Do you know today all it takes is three minutes to demystify the ECG that is sent to us from Leh or the North-East or anywhere in the world?
In seven to 10 years, India will have the best mass health care programme, dissociated form affluence. Technology has become affordable, and scalable. One can’t do it alone, of course. Even Microsoft knows that the new buzzword is collaboration. Competition is passe.
– V.Isvarmurti